TMNT 2012 Wizard of Oz and the Return of The Dark Mystic
by Sesshomarusama3
Summary: When the one pulling the strings behind The Warlock returns to Oz once more, he creates a deadly poison for Mikey that will slowly kill him. So now, its up to Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello to journey to Oz to defeat The Dark Mystic and cure Mikey before time runs out. But will they be strong enough to pull it off? (I OWN NOTHING! SECOND EDITION TO MIKEY AND THE WIZARD OF OZ)
1. Chapter 1: Poison

**A/N: Hello again, My friends! Wow, what's this? Another Wizard of Oz fic?! Yes, by popular demand, here is the second edition to Michelangelo and the Wizard of Oz!**

**I OWN NOTHING. THESE CHARACTERS AND THIS FRANCHISE DO NOT BELONG TO ME.**

**I hope you enjoy this! Specail thanks goes to my dear friend Pen-Woman and SMDKFan! **

**Now, let's dive into our first chapter!**

* * *

**TMNT 2012 Wizard of Oz and the Return of The Dark Mystic**

**Chapter 1: Poison**

The air was cold that night, but in the lands of the Black Forest, the air was always cold, like the dead that hovered over their heads, unseen and unheard. The sky was a blanket of darkness, covering the dead lands in its vastness; no stars would twinkle that night.

The forest was thick with silence; not a creature stirred, not even the demon creatures that prowled the lands…they _had_ prowled the lands. Now, this forest was completely desolate. Nothing lived here anymore.

He had made sure that those fowl beasts never set foot in these lands again.

As the land became covered in a thick mist, a lone, tall and slender figure stood at the gates of what had once been a castle of fear, death and destruction, fitting to the title of its previous ruler. But now, it was nothing but a soulless, broken shell of what glory it once had, slowing falling away without the dark magic that had forged it to sustain it any longer.

The figure wore a black cloak over him, a hood covering his face as he stared up at what remained of The Black Castle. His hard, emotionless gaze then wandered down to the ground as he slowly walked closer, near to where the poison moat had once flowed.

He could still see the scorch marks of where his little puppet had met his pitiful end.

He scoffed coldly. That ignorant fool. He should have known better than to activate the young turtle's inner powers by angering him. That led to his defeat, and then his disintegration.

After all the work he put into enticing Oroku Saki into giving in to the darkness, after letting him wreak havoc upon the lands of Oz for years, believing that he could obtain the Sacred Crimson Orb and bring his loved one to life again should he find the one who held it, after making sure that the child actually came here through that portal, only to find that all of that work and dark energy was wasted on that husk of a man.

"How pathetic," he sighed, his cloak swishing as he turned and began to walk away from the scene, his hands in his cloak pockets as he walked steadily down the rotten paths, taking his own time. There was no need to rush things; after all, he had all the time in this world to fulfil his destiny.

If The Shredder, the so-called Wicked Warlock of the West couldn't handle it, then it was time that he took matters into his own hands.

And it would sweet, and oh so easy to accomplish.

* * *

He had to give some credit to those little Munchkin people; they really knew how to work, especially when under threat for their miserable lives.

After nearly hours of travelling, he had finally returned to his lair, hidden within the caves of a mighty canyon in the Eastern lands. The cave, if it could truly be called one, was beyond massive. It was so vast that it appeared to be yet another canyon, but in reality, it was what was left of a large and abandoned gold mine, left by the great elves and dwarfs before their time. He strode across one of the many wooden bridges and beams that crossed and hung over the chasm below, his hands folded behind his back as he watched the little people work, abseiling from above and using their pickaxes to stab their way through the crumbling rocks, digging for whatever hid underneath.

If any were caught slacking off or trying to escape, they would face the wrath of his Stone Soldiers, large, bulky and powerful rock warriors he had crafted from the earth to serve as his personal minions, much more powerful than those weakling Foot Soldiers that Shredder had once used.

The elves had been foolish. They had thought that this mine was useless. How wrong they had been. Eventually, he would work these little people to the bone in order to obtain the riches beneath the mould.

Even though The Shredder had botched to live up to his masters' desires, not _everything _he had worked for had been a complete failure. The lands belonged to him now, after he had let loose his own power after spending so long in dormancy. After their so-called 'saviour' had left the land of Oz nearly a year ago to return to his own world, the rulers of the land had so foolishly believed that they were safe, that peace had finally washed over them at long last.

It was their optimism and naivety that had been their downfall.

He had decided to start off small, and then work his way up to the 'big leagues'. Munchkin Land wasn't all that hard to take control of; those little whelps were no match for him, even without any real weapons. And conquering them was made so much easier after he cursed that Mayor of theirs, for they had practically fallen into despair after witnessing his mighty power. They would be no use to him as soldiers, so he had put them to work as his slaves instead.

His next target had been the Sparrow Kingdom. The bird people that thrived in the forest lands of the North were well versed in the ways of magic, medicines and poisons. He cared little of the majority of their kind, but one in particular had been very well known throughout all of Oz.

In fact, now would be the perfect time to pay him a visit, and finally put the little birdie to good use.

The time was fast approaching…

Smirking to himself, he continued on his way, walking slowly but purposefully across the bridges as he made his way to where the prison cells were situated. The Munchkins avoided his gaze and stood wisely out of his path.

They knew his power, so they knew their place.

It took a while to get all the way down into the lower cell blocks, but he was a patient man. He had learned over the years of his long, _long _banishment to never rush things, and that patience was a virtue.

If slow and steady won the race, then slow and steady would win him the world.

He approached the first cell door, guarded by two Stone Soldiers. He nodded to them once, and they stepped out of his way. With a flick of his wrist, the metal door unlocked by his will, and it slowly opened, revealing a small, chained anthropomorphic sparrow creature huddled in the corner of his darkened cell. The sparrow blinked rapidly as light finally flooded his room again, but his heart sank in his chest as his eyes adjusted in the gleam, and he caught sight of the one who stood in the doorway.

He smirked again at his sudden cringe of fear, and he flicked his black hood back, revealing the face of a man who appeared middle-aged, with his black hair combed back, his thin face void of wrinkles, a pair of simple spectacles sat upon the bridge of his narrow nose, and his dark eyes cold and deadly. "Sir Malachi," he greeted, "I hope your stay in these fine accommodations has been most enjoyable, if not eventful."

Sir Malachi nothing, but he narrowed his brown eyes in anger.

He simply shrugged, stepping inside the cell as he folded his hands behind his back, looking down upon the helpless creature at his feet. "You know of the circumstances, I trust," he said evenly, his tone remaining completely calm yet commanding and cold. "So, you will do as I say, and I will grant you your freedom. Fail me, and I will kill you where you stand, and not just take your leg like the last time you defied me. Is that understood?"

Malachi stole a glance at the stick that had taken the place of his left leg, and then he looked back up and glared at the man. "…and what of my family?" he probed, "What of thine promise to free them?"

He smiled, though there was not a trace of warmth in it. "Don't worry, I will set your wife and your two children free as well. I'm a man of my word."

'_Clearly,' _Malachi mused sarcastically in his thoughts, keeping his beak shut unless he wanted to lose it, '_no doubt that invading and destroying two cities, killing the creatures of the Dark Forest out of cold blood, and _then_ enslaving thousands is keeping his word to never setting foot outside of his borders again.'_

"Very well," Malachi sighed reluctantly, bowing his head in shame, "I will do as thou command…Lord Bishop."

Lord Bishop nodded. "Excellent," he said, and he flicked his wrist once more, the chains falling from around the sparrow as he stood up. Bishop then put his hand out in front of him, and in a swirl of red mist, a long wooden staff with a mystical blue egg at its top appeared, and it floated out towards Malachi as he grasped it in his clawed, feathery hand.

"I believe that staff belongs to you, Malachi," Bishop said as he turned towards the door, "I return it to you, trusting that you try nothing reckless, understand?"

Letting out a low growl, Malachi bowed his head again. "Yes, my master. To where shall my services to thou take place first?"

Bishop smiled that wicked smile again. "We start in my study. I want you to conjure something special for me."

Malachi nodded, and he followed Bishop out of the cell and back out into the main chasms of the gold mine. His eyes softened in sympathy for the poor Munchkin people. They deserved so much better than this…and here he was, helping the man who had done this to them, because he was too weak to stop him himself.

He was known throughout all of Oz as Sir Malachi the Sparrow Wizard, descendant of the great Highland Wizards of the North. His power and understanding of magic and potions succeeded that of most wizards at his age, and was even regarded fondly by the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz himself.

And yet, when his homeland needed him the most, he was powerless against the power that Bishop held. Within mere moments, the battle was over, with Malachi too weak to even fly as he was forced to watch his home, the land in which he was born and raised, burned to the ground, and his friends and family dragged away or killed on the spot by his Stone Soldiers.

His beloved wife and his two beautiful daughters were all that he had left. It was the hope in seeing them once again, their smiling faces when they reunited, that kept him going, kept him alive.

And he vowed he would see them again, even if he had to work for this _filth _that dared call himself a sorcerer, he _would _see them again.

He continued to follow Bishop in silence, until they reached one of the tunnel pathways that led to two large golden doors. Once again, the man flicked his wrist, and the doors opened, revealing a large room filled with shelves upon shelves of ancient scrolls and books, a large round wooden table in the centre, and in the far corner, there was a radiantly burning fire place. Malachi took a moment to gaze around him in slight interest, for he hadn't seen anything like this since his imprisonment, before Bishop cleared his throat as he stood in front of the round table. He then moved aside and gestured the large, thick, red covered and black spine book that lay closed on the table. "It is said that only the Northern Highland Wizards can perform the spells that are written inside this ancient book," Bishop said, folding his hands behind his back as he stared down at the sparrow creature before him.

"I want you to find and create the deadliest poison you can find. I want that poison to take effect slowly, painfully, until the victim simply withers and perishes in his own filth. Is that understood, Malachi?"

Malachi wanted to squash that bug where he stood. What a vile creature he was. No wonder The Great and Powerful had banished him so long ago.

"As thou command, my Lord," he said, "…and dare I ask, whom does thou wish for me to inflict with this poison you speak of?"

The smile that Bishop sent him was neither sane nor was it insane, but it was filled with malice. "…The known throughout all of Oz as the Kame Child," he said slowly, "The bearer of the Sacred Crimson Orb…Michelangelo."

Malachi gasped, his eyes growing wide with horror. "N-no! Y-you cannot! This is madness!" he cried, "You cannot send the brave hero – that innocent _child_ – to such a hideous demise! You horrid, _soulless_ –"

"I don't care of whom or what he is!" Bishop blared, silencing the sparrow wizard, "All I care about, is that you follow my direct orders, or I will kill you and your family. And besides…" he stepped closer to the bird and sneered coldly.

"...once I am ruler of Oz, that 'hero' of yours could never hope to stop me."

Malachi's breath hitched, his blood turning cold as he stared up at the man. He was mad, completely insane. Those years of banishment and isolation had twisted him beyond repair, far worse than The Shredder had been…

Bishop smirked as he stepped back, his calm demeanour restored as he motioned the book with his hand. "Now…get on with it," he urged.

Though he wanted to disobey, and every fibre of his being told him to smite this husk of a man where he stood and flee from this wretched place, he knew that he couldn't. Bishop could fell him with ease…and as for his family…they wouldn't even stand a chance…

With a resigned sigh, he moved towards the book and picked it up carefully in his hands, blowing off the coat of dust. "…as thou wish, my master," he said, and he flicked through the book's contents, not stopping until he found what he was looking for. The Poison Spells.

His clawed finger traced down the page as his keen eyes scanned for the most deadly poison.

A slow death, filled with unyielding agony, until death's sweet release.

It was _wretched_. It was against everything he stood for as a wizard…but for the sake of other lives, it had to be done.

Finally, he found what he was looking for. It was a very old but very powerful poison spell, created by one of the very first wizards in Oz, long before the time of the Great and Powerful. As he read through the spell requirements, his blood chilled and his heart seemed to beat furiously against his ribcage. He stole a glance at Bishop, who watched him with the patience of a snake and the smile of the devil.

"_That_ one," he said.

Malachi swallowed thickly. "…y-yes, my master," he replied shakily, setting the book down on the table as he took a few steps back. With his staff in both hands, he closed his eyes and focused, reciting the words of the spell in his head as his body began to rise off the floor, glowing bright blue as he opened his eyes, which had also gained an azure hue. Mystical smoke began to encircle him, creating currents of wind that blew papers across the room and killed the flames in the fireplace, plunging the room into darkness apart from the sparrow wizards' body. The smoke began to turn from a light blue to a deathly red as it swirled around the room. Bishop remained unaffected as he observed with villainous glee.

In a tongue only his kind could understand, he began to chant the spell, his voice echoing as his staff glowed red at its tip.

"_Zenzan malculan horoko zutho…_ _Ifalas zaras I e zaraq…__**Ifalas**__**zaras**__**I**__**e**__**zaraq**__!"_

He raised his hands in the air, and the red smoke exploded upwards, twisting and morphing in the shape of a soulless red skull…

…the sign of Death…

* * *

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" _**Michelangelo shrieked, jumping upright in his bed and falling out onto the floor with a thump, his face drenched in sweat as he breathed heavily, hugging his duck taped teddy bear close to his chest. His baby blue eyes were wide and unseeing as they stared straight ahead, brimming with tears of fear. He sat up on the ground and put a shaking hand over his heart, which was thumping rapidly against his chest as he heaved.

What the heck was that? Some kind of weird, twisted dream or something? It felt so real, as if he was actually there…almost like a vision or something.

The sound of his door groaning open snapped him out of his trance as he looked up, finding his older brother, Leonardo, standing in the doorway and instantly moving again once he saw Mikey on the floor. "Mikey, are you okay?!" he cried, his voice almost frantic as he knelt down in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I heard you scream, is everything alright?"

Seeing the slight apprehension in his older brothers' eyes, Mikey forced himself to take a deep breath and calm himself down. "…I…It was a nightmare, I think," he stuttered, struggling to find his voice, "But…it felt so real…a-and I saw a giant red skull!"

Leo raised a brow. "A giant red skull?" he repeated.

Mikey nodded fearfully. "Yeah! T-there was this evil lookin' dude with a cloak on and he…uh…I can't remember what he was doing, b-but then there was this huge red skull made of smoke!" His body began to tremble in fear as he looked up at his brother. "…dude, does that mean I'm gonna _die_?" he quivered.

Leo looked into his baby brothers' eyes, smiling as he placed both hands gently on his shaking shoulders. "Mikey, it was just a bad dream," he said, and he pulled Mikey closer for a warm hug, patting his shell gently. "Nothing's going to happen to you, or anyone else. You know I wouldn't let that happen, right?"

Mikey pondered for a moment as he hugged Leo back, shifting his eyes to the side. A moment later, he nodded. "Yeah. You're right, Leo," he said, hugging him tighter as he smiled, "You'd kick their ass if anyone tried to get to the rest of us."

Leo chuckled, letting his choice of language slide for the time being. "Well, that's what brothers do, Mikey," he replied. And it was true. Leonardo would do everything to make sure that his family were safe, no matter what the odds. It was his duty as a leader and as an older brother, a duty that he gladly carried.

After he sensed that enough time had passed, Leo released Mikey enough so that he could look at him again, wiping the tears from his freckled face with his thumb. "So, you think you'll be alright on your own now?" he asked.

Mikey's smile disappeared as he shook his head. "No."

Leo chuckled again. "You want me to stay?"

Mikey grinned again and nodded. "Heck yeah!"

Within mere minutes, Leo and Mikey were lying back in Mikey's bed, with Leo fast asleep with his arms wrapped securely around Mikey's shoulders, and his chin resting on top of his head as his little brother cuddled into him, wedging the teddy bear in-between them. However, even with his big, strong brother sleeping by his side, keeping the darkness and nightmares at bay, Mikey laid awake, softly tracing the old cracks and chips on Leo's plastron.

What was that dream about? And why did those lands seem so familiar…?

Mikey's eyes blinked wide in realization. He _knew _that land. He had been there before, months and months ago...

And something told him that he was going back there pretty soon…

* * *

**A/N: Wow...**

**Also, if any of you have watched or played Sonic and the Secret Rings or Sonic and the Black Knight, then you'll see the magic words I used are based off that...I don't own those either.**

**Anyways, tell me what you think, and more chapters are on the way!**


	2. Chapter 2: Tricks of the Mind

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay! **

**I OWN NOTHING! THE ADVENTURE TIME REFERENCES DO NOT BELONG TO ME!**

**This might be the beginning of the end for our little Mikey baby...**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2: Tricks of the Mind**

Morning rituals in the Lair of the young heroes-in-the-half-shell were very simple: Get up at six, Michelangelo makes breakfast, training with Master Splinter at seven until ten, and then the boys could go off and do whatever they wished for the day until their evening patrol later that night. There was really nothing complicated about all that, now was there?

Well, for Michelangelo that day, it was a challenge to even open his eyes.

He had laid awake for most of the night, even with Leonardo by his side, thinking about the nightmare, and the world he had left behind long ago. Looking back on it now, that entire adventure, the places he saw, the people he met, they all seemed like a dream. In fact, _was _it all a dream? It couldn't have been; all of it felt so real…or was it exactly the same as what happened with that 'Pizza Face' guy he fought not long ago? Now _that _was trippy.

Mikey's dismal of a morning began as soon as Leo gently shook him awake by the shoulder. "Mikey? Come on buddy, time to get up," he said.

Wearily, Mikey cracked an eye open at his brother, and then let out a tired sigh. Morning already? Why must the world hate him so? "Okay," he droned, sitting up and stretching his stiffened limbs before climbing out of the bed, followed by a not-so-drowsy Leo, who was always ready for the morning, unlike his younger brothers.

He watched Mikey with a grin and a shake of his head as his younger brother stumbled around sleepily, and he took hold of his shoulder and steered him in the right direction of the kitchen. He let Mikey sit down at the table first as he grabbed a glass and filled it with water, handing it to Mikey. "Drink this," he said with a smile, "it'll wake you up." Mikey nodded lazily, taking the glass from Leo and draining it in one gulp.

It was then that their other brothers, Donatello and Raphael, finally emerged from their bedrooms and entered the kitchen. "Hey guys," greeted Raph, rubbing the sleep from his eye with the back of his hand with a jaw-splitting yawn as he sat next to Mikey, who looked a little better after drinking the water.

Donnie hummed a little tune to himself as he wandered over to the cupboards to grab himself a cup of coffee. Like Leo, Donnie was always up and ready to start the day. Just as long as he had a good old cup of Joe to go with it. "Morning guys," he greeted spiritedly, "what's Mikey making for breakfast this time?"

Mikey visibly brightened at the mention of his 'excellent cooking skills' and he bounced off his bench and rushed towards the cupboards. "Well I'm delighted you asked, Donatello!" he sang, "because I'm gonna try a new recipe I found off the internet!"

Raph and Leo shared a look. "I feel scared," Raph mumbled dryly.

Leo shoved him with his elbow, gave him a pointed look that told him to shut up, and then turned back to Mikey with a kind smile. "Really? What is it?" he asked politely.

Mikey's beam only widened as he took out eggs, flour, milk and bacon from the fridge. "I was listening to random songs and stuff on YouTube, and I found this one that tells you how to make…" he set the ingredients down on the counter-top and raised his hands in the air, "…Bacon Pancakes!" he announced with a flourish.

The others blinked in confusion, before Donnie burst out laughing, almost spilling his coffee all over the floor in the process as he calmed himself down enough to speak. "Isn't that from a cartoon, Mikey?" he chortled.

Undeterred, Mikey nodded, turning back to the counter as he started mixing the ingredients together. "Yup! One of the best cartoons _ever_! Except, y'know, Super Robo Mecha Force Five Team Five of course! These babies are supposed to be _really _good, so brace yourselves for the flavor, dudes!"

Donnie took his place at the table as the three older brothers watched their youngest prepare his next big experimental breakfast, and they were admittedly worried. Last time Mikey had experimented, he made Pizza Omelette, and they ended up feeling sick for the rest of the morning. Donnie turned to Raph and Leo, "Do you think it's gonna end up like the last time he made pizza?" he asked worriedly.

Leo and Raph could only shrug, and then cringe at the memory of _whatever _that thing they were presented with was supposed to be.

However, they were surprised to find that as Mikey stared cooking, the sweet smells of frying bacon and sizzling pancakes filled the air. Mikey began to sing out loud, "Bacon pancakes, makin' bacon pancakes! Take some bacon and in put it in a pancake! Bacon pancakes, that's what it's gonna make, bacon pancaaAAAAaaake!" which was followed by the entire room being filled with snickers and barks of laughter.

Mikey then held up the first pancake in the pan. "Okay, you're first, Leo! Hold 'em up!" he called.

Leo grinned as he held out his plate, and Mikey flipped the pancake into the air, watching as it sailed and then landed perfectly into his plate, and the boys cheered. Leo covered the pancake in syrup and took a bite. His eyes widened.

Mikey cringed, preparing for the worst. "Well…how's it taste, bro?" he asked.

To everyone's surprise, as Leo swallowed it, he grinned. "Mikey, best pancake ever!" he laughed, and then began eating the rest of it with a smile on his face. Who knew bacon mixed with pancakes would be so tasty?

Mikey grinned back brightly at his older brothers' comment to his delicious accomplishment, and he pumped his fist into the air. "Alright! Dr Chef-entien is back in the game, dudes!" he cheered, and turned back to the stove, his spirits lighter now as he prepared Raph's pancake, holding out the pan as he prepared to flip it into the air. "You're next Raph! Ready?"

The red clad turtle held up his plate. "Lay it on me, Mikey!" he laughed.

Mikey bent forwards, ready to flip. "Okay! Here goes –"

_A flash of red blazed across his vision, smoke swirling around him like a serpent, and the shape of a red skull…_

_…the sign of Death…_

Mikey let out a startled yelp, and the pancake went flying off course. They all gasped as they watched it fly over their heads. "I got it!" Raph called out, dropping his plate on the table and diving off his chair with his mouth wide open to the floor, catching the Frisbee-cake in his open jaws. He stood up and gave them all a thumbs up in triumph. Leo and Donnie broke out into laughter and clapped at the red turtle's victory. But Mikey was too frozen to notice.

He stared blankly at the floor, watching with wide baby blue eyes as his arms holding the pan began to tremble slightly. What the hell was that all about? He thought that dream was over already, so why was it bothering him again?

And why did he feel this sudden twinge in his chest?

"Mikey, are you okay?"

Mikey snapped himself out of his trace and looked up to find their concerned eyes on him. He sent them all a smile, shaking away that frightful feeling for now. "Pssh, yeah dudes, I'm good!" he replied flippantly, "Just need to make Donnie's next. By the way, nice catch Raph!"

Raph swallowed and chuckled with a dramatic bow. "Verily!" he snorted, earning more laughter.

Apart from Mikey, who's eyes were still filled with confusion and fear.

* * *

After breakfast, the four turtle brothers were stood in the dojo, awaiting their Sensei's instructions. They were set up in pairs for a sparring match; Leo with Donnie, and Mikey with Raph. They were the first to spar as they circled each other, drawing out their weapons as they prepared to face one another. Raph spun his Sais in his grip, smirking at Mikey. "You ready for another beat down, Mikey?" he taunted.

Mikey flipped out his nunchaku, spinning them in fluid motions. "You can talk the ninja talk, Raphie, but can you walk the ninja walk?!" he teased back. Sat on the side-lines, Leo and Donnie rolled their eyes. Those two sometimes were truly insufferable.

Splinter folded his hands behind his back as he watched his two sons. He noticed that Michelangelo was looking slightly paler than usual, and that smile he was wearing…it didn't seem natural. Almost as if he was forcing himself to appear normal…well, as normal as Michelangelo could be, that is. Perhaps he should ask him about that later. He and Michelangelo never really discussed matters that bothered him as much as his three older brothers did, mainly because nothing ever actually concerned him to begin with; whatever problem came his way, he would handle it wearing that freckled smile and joke about it along the way to make the situation less dark. Now however, the old ninja master could sense that his youngest son was holding something inside himself, and didn't want anyone else to know. It was very unusual, and admittedly quite worrying. But for now, he would not address it, and would allow them to finish their training.

He raised his hand. "**_Hajime!_**" he announced.

Raph was the first to spring into action, attempting to take Mikey down to the ground with a tackle, but Mikey flipped over his head and rolled along the floor, hopping back to his feet again as he swung his kusarigama chain towards Raph's turned back. Raph moved out of the way to avoid being snared, and instead let the chain wrap around his wrist so he could pull Mikey towards him, and then he grappled the younger turtle to the floor, both them wrestling along the mats as they tried to gain the upper hand, but as usual, Raphael ended up on top, trapping Mikey's head in an arm lock, grinning and snickering evilly. "Gotcha!" he teased as Mikey struggled in his stronger brothers' grip, but to no avail.

Splinter shook his head at their antics. "_Yame!" _he called, "that is enough, Raphael. Let go of your brother."

Raph shrugged and released the gasping Mikey, who stood up and pointed an accusing finger to his brothers' chest, "Dude, that was totally unfair!" he cried.

Raph pushed his hand aside, folding his arms with a cocky smirk. "Dude, there's no such thing as a fair fight, remember? You just sucked," he mocked.

Mikey pouted. "Well _you _–"

_The silhouette of a dark hooded man flashed before him. He could see the smile that graced his hidden face, but it was not filled with warmth or kindness…_

_"I'm coming for you, Kame child…"_

Mikey suddenly let out a scream of terror, tripping backwards over his own feet as he scooted as far away from the stunned Raph, his blue eyes wide and full of fear as his pupils dilated, his heart beating rapidly against his chest as he breathed quickly and heavily. Leo and Donnie were at his side in an instant, falling to their knees as they put their hands on his shoulders. "Mikey, what's wrong, are you okay?" Leo probed, gazing into his baby brothers terrified eyes worriedly.

Raph and Splinter knelt down before Mikey, and Raph put both hands on his shoulders. "Mikey, dude, I was just playin' with you! I didn't mean it!" he urged, but Mikey wasn't listening; his eyes were still wide open, and he was staring straight ahead of him as if he was seeing a ghost. Raph shook him lightly, "Mikey! Can you hear me? MIKEY!"

Suddenly, Mikey blinked once, and he became aware that his family was crowded around him, watching him with worried gazes. Confused, he looked at each one of them and asked, his voice still trembling, "Guys…y-you saw that, right? T-that creepy dude saying he was gonna get me? You say that, right?!"

The others all shared a confused glance, and then looked back at the shaken younger turtle. Splinter helped him stand up again with both hands on his shoulders. "Michelangelo, we saw nothing of the sort," he said gently, and he held up a hand to halt Mikey's protest. Mikey lowered his eyes and sighed in defeat. Splinter patted his shoulder, and then turned to his three older sons. "I must speak with Michelangelo alone for a moment," he said. They all stole one last concerned glance at the downcast orange clad turtle, and they reluctantly left the dojo, leaving Mikey and Splinter alone in the room together.

Once he knew that the other three were out of earshot, he placed both hands on Mikey's shoulders and turned him around so that he could face him. "Tell me, my son. What has been troubling you?" he asked.

Unable to look directly up into his fathers' eyes, Mikey sighed as he looked down at his feet. "…I had this nightmare last night, Sensei," he confessed, rubbing his arm shyly, "and I guess it's been bothering me. But I don't get it, though; I keep seeing these weird visions or something, and I don't know what they mean! I know it's gotta be something important from the dream, but I can't remember it all! It's driving me crazy!"

Splinter placed his hand gently underneath Mikey's chin, and raised his head up so that he could look into his son's fear filled blue orbs. "Calm yourself, Michelangelo," Splinter eased, giving Mikey's shoulders a reassuring squeeze. He had no idea what was going on himself, for it was rare for one his age to be seeing strange visions such as these. They needed to get to the bottom of this together. And the old ninja master had just the thing that could help.

Splinter then lowered himself to the floor, crossing his legs as he sat down, motioning for his son to do the same, which he did with a question in his eyes. "…are we gonna meditate?" he then asked out loud. That would be a bit of a problem if they were; Mikey's short attention span hindered him from focusing on anything for too long, including meditation.

Splinter nodded. "Yes. But this is different to what you and your brothers are used to doing. Close your eyes." Mikey did so. Splinter nodded, and then he continued. "Now, take a deep breath and concentrate. Focus your thoughts back to the nightmare you had. Try to remember what you saw, what you felt, and then repeat what you see back to me."

Nodding once with his eyes still shut, Mikey took in a deep breath, and concentrated very hard. His hands clenched into fists on his lap as he focused all his thoughts solely on that dream, blocking out all other sounds around him…

Splinter watched his son as his face creased with concentration, and he couldn't help but feel proud. He seemed as though he was doing quite well. He had never gotten this far deep in their previous meditation sessions before. This was indeed a good sign.

Mikey took a breath, his eyes still shut. "Okay…I see this big cave place…there're millions of people working down there…" he said. Behind his closed lids, Splinter could see his eyes shifting, as if he was really seeing what he described. He listened as Mikey continued. "…there's that black hooded dude again…he's bringing out the gut that looks like Sir Malachi…now they're going into the study room…"

Mikey trailed off after that. Splinter quirked a brow at his silence. "Michelangelo?"

Mikey's eyes flew wide again and he screamed, falling backwards onto his shell, panting heavily in fear. Splinter was instantly moving, helping his trembling son back into a sitting position as he held him by the shoulders steadily. "Michelangelo, calm yourself! Breathe, my son," he eased, "tell me what you saw."

The young turtles' eyes darted to his sensei, unable to speak. His eyes then filled with tears, and he let out a cry before he launched himself into his chest, clutching his fathers' robes into tight fists as he began to sob into him. Splinter hesitated for only a second before wrapping his arms around his youngest child, rubbing his shell in soothing motions to ease his fear. "Hush, Michelangelo, it is alright," he soothed over the boy's terrible sobs, resting his chin on the top of his head, "I am here, my son."

Mikey buried his face into his father's fur, unable to stop the tears. "S-S-Sensei, I-I saw it," he quivered, "I-It was t-the skull again! A-And the man, he said…he said he wanted me dead!"

Splinter held back the shiver that threatened to run down his spine, holding his son tighter. "I see. Did you recognize his voice?" he asked calmly.

He shook his head. "N-No, I don't know him!" He then lifted his tear stained face to look up at Splinter. "…sensei…am I gonna die?" he whimpered.

The utter fear and despair that the old ninja master saw in his youngest sons eyes in that moment as they spilled over with more tears, broke his heart to pieces, and without another word, he hugged Mikey tighter to his chest, letting him continue to cry into his robes as he stroked the back of his head with his clawed hand, just as he did when they were very small. "Michelangelo, I promise you, nothing will happen to you, not as long as your brothers and I are with you…"

His gaze steeled. He didn't know who was plaguing his son's mind, but no matter what, he would get to the bottom of it, and prevent them from ever touching his youngest little boy, or any of his boys again.

"…I swear it."

* * *

**A/N: Poor baby Mikey. Can things get any worse?**


	3. Chapter 3: Beginning of the End

**A/N: Hello my friends! Sorry for the delay! I'm writing other fan-fictions as well!**

**Looks like Mikey's in trouble...**

**I OWN NOTHING!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Beginning of the End**

Letting his head fall onto his crossed arms as he sat on the stool by the kitchen table, Michelangelo let out a long, tired sigh. It was now four o'clock in the evening, and all throughout the day, even after his meeting with Splinter that ended up with him in tears, he had been seeing those same visions. The hooded man, the bird man, and then that red skull…and his brothers were starting to get very worried about him, since they didn't see or hear anything that he and Splinter had talked about back in the dojo. Worrying them or causing any sort of panic among them was the absolute last thing that he wanted, but he had no idea what to do to stop it.

What did any of this even mean? He knew that whoever they were, were all in that strange magical place that he had left behind, Oz he remembered it was called. But who were they? What did he want to achieve?

Oh wait. He knew. World domination.

His expression turned flat. Of course it was world domination; was it ever anything else?

But even so, that still didn't explain why they were really after _Mikey_. He was all the way in Oz, worlds and worlds away from New York. Unless that man was just going to torment him until Mikey decided to kill himself…

His eyes widened and he shivered, shaking his head and banging his fists against it as he squeezed his eyes shut. Nope! Don't want to think about that! That couldn't be what that shadowy guy was planning; that would be low, even for Shredder. It had to be something else, something with a deeper intention that just everlasting torment.

He needed to find out what that was, but how?

Suddenly, an idea blinked like a light bulb inside his head. Smiling to himself, he got up from the table and hurried towards the freezer. He opened it wide, and grinned wider as he saw the frozen kitty dancing back and forth at the sight of him. He stuck his nose inside, and let his strange little pet lick his nose, leaving a blob of ice cream behind as he giggled and licked it off. "Hey there Ice Cream Kitty!" he greeted, moving away from the freezer to get a bowl from the drawer, and after spilling a little bit of ice into it, he scooped up the frozen cat and placed her inside.

After shutting the door, he carried the bowl to the table and set it down in front of him, sitting back on the bench as he rested his elbows on the table as he stared down at the cat. He let out another long sigh. "…Listen, I know you're really Glinda's old cat, Klunk. Do you think you can figure out what's going on with your psychic powers or something?" he asked softly, hoping that she could still understand him in this form.

Ice Cream Kitty, who had once been a magical feline back in Oz before her little 'incident' with the ice cream and the mutagen, looked up into the troubled gaze of her young master. She had sensed his pain and distress throughout the day, and she wanted to do nothing more than to run to him, reassure him and somehow tell him that everything was going to be okay. But alas, as a cat now made of ice cream, talking was no longer possible and going anywhere outside of a cold space hindered her from moving about too much. Even now, her body was very slowly starting to melt in the slight heat. Even though she was happy in her new form, she just couldn't do as much as she could before.

In response to his request, however, was something that she knew she could still do. Even though she hadn't actually been in contact with her original owner, Glinda the Good, in months ever since she left after Michelangelo, she could still connect to Oz through her own psychic abilities, and then find out whoever is responsible for all these horrid images Mikey kept seeing.

Stretching her neck upwards, she pressed her forehead against Mikey's, much to his confusion, but he didn't pull back. He simply shrugged, thinking this was part of the process, and he closed his eyes. "Okay then Ice Cream Kitty," he said, "do your stuff."

She focused all of her mental powers into reading the young turtle's thoughts, reaching deep within his subconscious and weaving her way through chains of memories and dreams, seeking out the one that would lead her back to Oz…

A painful jolt suddenly ran through her entire body, and she pulled away with a sharp jerk of her head as she let out a high pitched whine of pain, yowling as she set back into the ice.

Mikey's snapped open, and he let out a cry of his own as he watched Ice Cream Kitty suddenly sink backwards, writhing in pain. "No, no, no, no, no! Ice Cream Kitty!" he yelped in fear, gathering her in his arms, not caring in the least if he got ice cream all over him as he headed back to the freezer and put her inside it.

Instantly, she seemed to calm down, looking up at her master with a tilt of her head, something that Mikey could only presume to be confusion. He let out a sigh of relief. "Well that was close," he said, nuzzling her face with his nose, "You'd better rest in here for a little while, kitty."

Then he closed the freezer, and walked out of the kitchen frowning in thought and in worry. What happened to her back there? Did something hurt her when she tried to read his mind?

Just what was going on here?

Inside the freezer confinements, Ice Cream Kitty knew _exactly _what had happened to her. Something that had never, not in all of her years as a psychic feline servant and companion to Glinda the Good, happened to her before.

Something, or some_one_, was blocking her connection.

* * *

"What part of TO YOUR LEFT, do you not understand, Casey?!"

"Dude, that was _totally _not my fault! Leo hit me with his car!"

"I did _not! _That's Donnie's car!"

"Really? Donnie!"

"Whoops."

Sat on the bench behind the gaming teenage boys in the center of the pit, April O'Neil let out a sigh of both exasperation, and content as she sat back and watched them as they bickered. They had been at this racing game for the better half of an hour as they waited for night to fall for their evening patrol, trying to literally run each other over with their cars and beat the high score, which surprisingly enough was Mikey's.

They were loud and a little obnoxious, but that was the usual thing around here. And she didn't mind it one little bit. That was just how their little family worked.

However, there was one thing that she _did _mind, and quite a lot actually. And it was Mikey's silence.

She looked to her right to find Mikey staring at the screen, his expression as flat as his eyes as he sat there with his legs crossed and his elbows resting on his knees. She frowned as she couldn't help but stare at him. He had been like this ever since she and Casey arrived at the lair…_three _hours ago. The brothers had told him that he was feeling off that entire morning, and they had wanted to help, but Splinter had advised them to leave him be for now, as not to trigger something again.

But April couldn't stand it any longer. She couldn't just sit there and watch Mikey…_not being Mikey!_

Squaring her shoulders and taking in a deep breath though her nose, she tapped Mikey on the shoulder. He seemed to snap out of his flat trance as he blinked once in surprise, and then turned to face April. She smiled warmly and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Mikey, can you do me a favor?" she asked kindly, knowing that this would perk him up; she knew how much he liked to help people.

And her hunch was right as Mikey's face immediately perked up. "Sure! What do you need help with, sis?" he asked brightly.

She giggled. Now _that's _the Mikey she always loved and wanted to see. She took his hands in hers as she said sweetly, "Since you like making sweet snacks, can you make me one of your awesome chocolate fudge sundaes with sprinkles and extra chocolate sauce? Y'know, the one you're 'world famous' for?" she added with a knowing smile and a playful wriggle of her eyebrows.

Mikey's new grin couldn't be matched as he nodded, squeezing April's hands in his. "Awesome idea! One awesome Chocolate Fudge Sundae with Sprinkles and extra Chocolate Sauce coming _right _up, sis!" he laughed, and he bounced up from the bench and hopped off energetically towards the kitchen. April shook her head and giggled again, happy to see her baby brother back to his old self. A minute of Mikey not being himself was bad enough, but three hours was just torture.

Raph looked up at her from his game from the amount of noise coming from behind him, and he turned and saw April smiling, staring in the direction of the kitchen, and he quirked a confused brow. "What's so funny?" he asked.

April looked back at him and folded her arms over her chest, a winning smile on her features. "What? Am I not allowed to smile a little?" she teased. Raph shrugged at her with his signature smirk, and she smirked right back. "Well if you must know, I, April O'Neil, have just fixed your younger brother," she said with mock smugness, still grinning. "All hail me."

Raph barked out a laugh at her. "Seriously?" he asked sceptically, "No one's been able to get him out of that funk of his all day, not even Leo with _pizza_. How the heck did you manage to -?"

He was cut off when they all heard a scream and crashing glasses coming from the kitchen.

Donnie paused the game as they all turned towards the kitchen, their eyes wide in shock. "Mikey? Are you okay in there?" Leo called, standing up and getting ready to go in and find out for himself.

Another scream, one filled with pain, answered his call.

In an instant, Leo was running into the kitchen, with the others not far behind. They burst through the curtains to find glass cups shattered across the floor. And in the midst of it all was Mikey, curled up on the ground with his hand clutching his chest as he writhed in pain, crying out in agony as tears slipped through his eyes as he squeezed them shut.

Leo and Raph were at his side within seconds, with Leo holding up Mikey's upper half in his arms. "Mikey! Mikey, what's wrong?! Talk to me! Say something!" he cried, trying his best to stay calm even though his heart was beating rapidly in panic.

Mikey couldn't say anything, unable to stop screaming as the pain in his chest worsened with every minute that passed. He buried his face into Leo's chest as his older brother held him close, and Leo turned to Casey and Raph. "You two, go find Splinter! Donnie, April, help me get Mikey into your lab; we need to find out what's wrong with him!" he ordered hastily.

Casey and Raph nodded as they hurried off to the dojo in search for the ninja master, and Leo, Donnie and April carefully picked Mikey up and carried him to Donnie's lab, where they laid him down on the table next to Donnie's computer.

Donnie went into Doctor Mode as he took out his stethoscope, plugging it into his ears and placing it over Mikey's chest. "Mikey, I need you to listen to me, buddy," he said calmly, not wanting to panic Mikey any more as he listened to his rapid heart, "Mikey, you need to tell me what's wrong."

Tears still dripping down his face, Mikey shook his head. "I…I d-don't know!" he cried, "I-It j-just…happened!"

April put a hand on his head and the other holding his larger hand as she gazed down at him worriedly. It hurt her to see him look so glum before, but seeing him in this much pain killed her. "Shh, Mikey, it's gonna be okay," she soothed, though she knew it would do nothing to ease the pain, "we'll make you better again. We promise."

It was then that Splinter finally entered the lab, and as soon as his gaze found the curled up form of Michelangelo lying on the table, he hesitated no longer as he rushed over, followed closely by Casey and Raph as they hurried over to Mikey's side. "Donatello, what is going on in here?" he asked hastily, his expression creased with intense worry as his youngest son cried out again in pain again, still clutching his chest as his father placed his hands on his head and shoulder.

Donnie shook his head, his eyes going wide. Now _he _was starting to panic, too. "I don't know, Sensei! H-He just said that it happened when he was in the kitchen! I can't see anything wrong with him, and he's showing no signs of a heart attack or a stroke, so I don't – Raph, are you okay?"

They all turned to Raph, whose face was paling slightly as he gazed down with wide eyes at Mikey's chest. Donnie neared him and looked over his shoulder to see what had silenced his brother. "Raph, what is it? What do you see – oh my god."

The others gathered around, and their eyes widened in horror at what they saw slowly appearing on Mikey's plastron, where his heart was.

Blood red veins in a spiral like form were seeping through his shell. And they were very slowly, but surely, spreading across his chest.

* * *

"Has it taken affect yet, Sparrow Wizard?"

Frowning in shame, Sir Malachi looked up from the book in his clawed hands, and with a grim glare at the black clothed man stood in front of him, he nodded. "…yes. The deed has been done, Lord Bishop," he said lowly, the tone in his voice clearly stating that he took no pride whatsoever in what he had just done, "the poison has taken affect. I have felt the child's pain through the connection I have built through the psychic feline in his world. She is the only link we have to that reality, and she can feel the boy's pain, therefore so can I."

He lowered his head again. "…he will be dead within seven days, my lord..."

Folding his hands behind his back, Bishop grinned sadistically. "Excellent. Seven days filled with unyielding suffering. How fitting for the one who defeated the so-called Warlock of the West with ease, for he now succumbs to a mere poison."

He scoffed as he turned to face the brightly burning fireplace, smiling coldly into the flames. "Your so called hero is truly no match for me."

Malachi couldn't keep silent any longer as he shut the book with a loud snap and whirled around to glare at the turned back of the man. "'No match for you', you say?! You are nothing but a coward, you mewling quim!"

Bishop lifted his head and spun around in shock, glaring at the bird. "You'd be wise to hold your tongue, bird," he warned.

Malachi was not deterred as he continued, "You know nothing of his power! You hide behind the walls of a cave, cowering in the shadows as the Warlock plundered the lands, whilst the brave Michelangelo fought alongside his brethren valiantly! He possesses the power far greater than any wizard I have seen, including the lowly likes of _you_, Bishop!"

Startled by the sudden outburst, Bishop let out a low growl, the red flames behind him seeming to rise up with his own anger as he grabbed the bird by the beak. "Listen to me you little pin cushion," he sneered, his voice low and threatening, "I may have hidden within the confinements of this wretched land as the Warlock took control, but I was by no means _cowering_. I was waiting, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike out myself, and then take my rightful place in the lands of Oz. I knew the Shredder would fail, so I simply bided my time until his end. If I had not been patient, I would not be where I am today. Besides, I have more than enough power to rip that turtle brat limb from bloody limb…I just prefer to keep things simple."

He released Malachi's beak, letting the bird tumble to the floor on his back as he regained his composure, once again folding his hands behind his back as the flames died down again behind him. He stared down at the sparrow from behind his spectacles, his eyes cold. "I don't usually like to get my hands dirty, but when the time calls for it, I will. So do not forget your place, little sparrow," he mocked, "Or I will make sure that you lose that other leg of yours as well…or maybe I should take your wings? Understood?"

Malachi's breath hitched in anger, saying nothing more as he glared up at Bishop.

Bishop merely scoffed, turning towards the door of the study as he strode out. "I'll let you stay in my study for the time being, but only do you can keep an eye on Michelangelo, make sure everything goes smoothly until his demise," he ordered over his shoulder, "I am a patient man, so I can wait. Do not lose that connection to the feline either." He was about to close the door, when another thought hit him. "…and Malachi?"

Malachi stood up and looked at him, his eyes never losing their heated glare.

Bishop grinned. "…from now on, I want you to call me by my proper title. Call me…The Dark Mystic."

And without another word, the doors shut, locking tight and leaving Malachi alone in the study.

Malachi let out a low growl from his throat. He was crazy. He was utterly insane! How dare that heathen! How dare he bestow such a cruel fate unto a child?! Had he no soul?! Had he not a trace of decency or feeling within that husk of a body besides anger and hatred? What was all of this even for? Michelangelo could no longer cross the paths between their dimensions, at least not on his own, so he could do no harm to Bishop. Why did that man have to go to such extreme lengths in order to take over the lands?

He fell to his knees, lowering his head in despair. There was no hope, was there? There was no known cure for the poison that Malachi had given the young turtle in their world, making it the strongest poison known in all of Oz. It would kill him gradually, and painfully, until he either died at the end of the seventh day, or if his will had shattered entirely, then he would kill himself.

This was it. This was the end of the bearer of the Sacred Crimson Orb, Michelangelo, and the end of all of Oz itself…

…wait a moment.

No, it wasn't!

Malachi's eyes lit up in joy as he remembered. He still had that connection to the feline, Klunk. Bishop had blocked her mental powers before when she had tried to reach back into Oz, but now that he was alone, if Malachi could somehow connect with Klunk, then they could combine their powers, they could possibly find help! The first person he would have thought to go to first was Glinda, since she was Klunk's original owner, but of course she was away in another land with her husband Donatello, out on royal duties. Then there would have been Karai, but she and Leonardo were both dealing with the crisis happening in the Dragon Kingdom; apparently Bishop had struck there as well, and now there were dragons on the loose.

Well. That was bloody perfect.

Wait a moment…there was one other way to get help. If it would not come to them, he and the cat could bring it themselves!

And he knew just the warriors to do it.

Making sure no one was looking or listening, Malachi closed his eyes and concentrated, letting his body glow once more as he lifted himself off the floor, uttering the words of an ancient spell that he had learned long ago.

After several moments, a flash of blue light shone in the room, snuffing out the light of the fireplace as it swirled in front of him, forming the image of a seemingly empty room, filled with ice and…frozen cheese on sticks? Hm. How odd.

He looked further around the closed room, and it took everything in his power to keep the scream from erupting from his throat as he caught sight of a cat…a cat that was multi-coloured, with dark beady eyes, and to his utter shock, made out of food that he had discovered in this world was called Ice Cream.

Wait…was that _Klunk?_

What in heaven's name happened to her?

The cat lifted its head from his paws, and she turned around to find the image of the sparrow wizard staring at her with eyes full of confusion, and slight fear. She tilted her head and mewed. She knew this sparrow. She had heard of him from tales of the Northern lands, not far from where she and her mistress Glinda lived. He was Sir Malachi, the Sparrow Wizard! Of course! Who else could possibly connect to her through this world and the land of Oz?

She sincerely hoped that he was here to help. She could feel Michelangelo's distress from her cold sanctuary, and she knew in the pit of her heart that whatever had happened to him was not something of this world.

In fact, it was far worse than he could have ever imagined it would be.

Swallowing the scream in his throat, and remembering that he had very little time until the 'Dark Mystic' returned to check up on him, Malachi cleared his throat and decided to get back to business. "Klunk, I presume?" he asked, and to his relief, the cat nodded her head. "Good," he continued, "I am aware that Michelangelo is in grave danger, and he does not have much time…"

"However, I know a way in which the lad's life can be spared…"

* * *

**A/N: Oh no! The poison has taken effect! Poor Mikey!**

**Next Chapter: Looks like someone's going on a little adventure!**


	4. Chapter 4: Back To Oz Once More

**A/N: I know its been a while, and you can kill me if you want to, but here it is! Chapter 4!**

**I hope you like it!**

**Plus, there might be a little foreshadowing, see if you can spot it! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Back To Oz Once More**

The four brothers had experienced some very crazy and scary things in their lives ever since they had first journeyed to the surface not a year ago now. They had battled against countless mutants and aliens from other dimensions, Robotic Foot Ninjas and a vengeance crazed villain that named himself after a kitchen utensil. But none of them, not even the freakiest of mutants or the most dangerous of alien threats even came close to that one, unbearable fear that shook them all to the very bone at the thought of it ever happening.

The fear of losing a brother.

And that fear was already coming to life.

It was bad enough that they had found out that Michelangelo, their baby brother, had been found with traces of poison in his system, but the fact that their resident genius Donatello couldn't for the life of him figure out what that poison was, scared them even more. The only thing that Donnie could possibly deduct from all of this was that during a recent battle with some Kraang, Mikey might have picked something up from one of them and had been infected. It was the only likely possibility he could come up with, and even that didn't sound very convincing. But there was no other poison on earth that had such drastic symptoms like the ones Mikey was suffering from, so it had to be...

Later that evening, Raphael ran an agitated hand over his head, growling loudly as he leaned against the wall of Mikey's bedroom. Donnie had deemed it wise to move Mikey to somewhere he would be comfortable for now, until he, Leo and Master Splinter could come up with a plan to find a cure for their youngest brother. Raph turned and stared down at Mikey with desolate green eyes. The orange clad turtle's eyes were closed as he lay down in his own bed, but he was far from being at peace. Sweat was trickling down his pale forehead, and every few seconds he would twitch, letting out a quiet groan or a whimper of pain. April was sat at the foot of his bed, holding onto his limp hand as tight as she dared as she used a cloth to wipe off the sweat, her face creased with intense worry. Casey was standing at her side with a bowl of cold water in his arms, and he peered over her shoulder to gaze at the ailing turtle in concern and sympathy. Poor little guy; he was in so much pain, and those weird vein things were still spreading. It was only growing little by little, but it was still there.

Just what was going on?

Raph let out another angry sigh. "This is taking too long!" he barked, gaining the attention of both April and Casey as he stomped towards the door, "Mikey's in pain, and 'Fearless' and 'Dork-a-tello' are still out there just talking! Well, I'm not just gonna sit here and wait for those two morons to –"

He was stopped suddenly when a hand lashed out and grabbed his arm, holding him firmly with no intention of letting go. He snapped his head around to glare at the one who had dared stop him, and to his surprise, he found that it was his best friend Casey, who was frowning at him and shaking his head. Raph's mouth curved into a threatening snarl as he tried to tug his arm out of Casey's grip. "Let go, Casey!" he snapped.

Casey flattened his lips and narrowed his eyes in anger as he stood up to face his friend fully. He easily towered over the shorter turtle, but he was not intimidated in the least by the height difference, but that wasn't Casey's intention. He looked down at the hot tempered turtle as calmly as he could manage, not releasing his hold on Raph's arm, and instead tightened it slightly. "Listen Raph," he said, "I don't like it either, and neither do April and Master Splinter, but you've gotta calm down, man. Leo and Donnie are trying their best –"

"Well if you ask me, they're not trying hard enough!" Raph interrupted, tugging against his hold again, "Talking isn't gonna help Mikey! Now let _go_ of me!"

Casey then let out a low snarl, finally having enough of this, and grabbed Raph by the shoulders with both hands and gave him a little shake. "_Shut up_ Raph!" he yelled, making Raph's eyes go wide as he stared up at his human friend. "Going out there yelling, raging and hitting everything you see isn't gonna help Mikey either! Do you think this is _easy_ for them? They're just as panicked and scared as you are, Raph! So before you go out and do something you'll regret, sit your shell down and _use your freaking head_! Think about what's best for _everyone_! Including Mikey…"

Raph blinked once at Casey in shock, not daring to say another word. Behind them both, April watched with a hand hovering over her mouth, completely speechless. _Casey_ was the one giving _Raph_ the advice and restraint this time? That was a first; it was usually the other way around. Maybe Casey had finally learned something ever since that incident with Slash and Neutralizer a while back…

…or maybe, Casey somehow knew what Raph was going through. But that couldn't be right; Casey had no other siblings apart from his little sister, and from what they knew about her, she was completely fine.

However, Raph never actually recalled Casey ever mentioning his mother…

Raph let out a sigh as he looked down at his feet, bringing up his larger hands and resting them over the ones Casey had on his shoulders, giving them a little squeeze. "…sorry, Casey," he said quietly, his throat forming a lump, "you're right. I just…"

Casey smiled down at him, patting his turtle brothers' shoulders reassuringly. "I know, Raph. I get it. Trust me…"

The bedroom door opened, and they all looked up and turned to find Leonardo and Donatello stood in the doorway with their weapons on their backs. "Raph, gear up, we're going over to find Kurtzman to see if he has any info on this Kraang poison," Leo said, and then turned to Casey and April. "You guys stay here and take care of Mikey with Master Splinter. We won't be gone long," he added, and the two humans nodded in silent understanding.

As Raph and Donnie exited the room to go and retrieve his Sais from the dojo, Leo spared one last glance at Mikey, still lying in the bed and groaning in his dreamless sleep. His brow creased in worry.

_We'll be back soon, little brother…I promise. Just hang on a little longer._

With that, he followed Raph and Donnie out of the room, and over the turnstiles as they raced through the sewers.

As the turtles left the room, Casey sat down next to April on the bed as they both watched over the ailing turtle. He let out another little whimper as he curled in on himself slightly, letting out a harsh chesty cough. April wiped his brow from sweat again, and when the cough turned into a fit, her eyes widened, and she quickly turned to the black haired boy. "Casey, go and grab me another bowl and towel from the kitchen, hurry!" she ordered, and Casey was on his feet and running out of the bedroom in an instant. The last time he had started coughing like this, he had actually spat out blood. That was what had nearly set the boys off completely, if not for Master Splinter.

April wanted to cry, but she knew that she had to be strong, for Mikey and for her whole mutant family. She had to pray that her little brother would make it through this.

Meanwhile, Casey was still rummaging through the cupboards in search for another clean bowl, nearly hitting his head twice. This was still all too strange for the vigilante teen, and he was admittedly scared for the youngest turtle. They hung out a lot, not as much as he and Raph did, but they were still pretty close friends. Mikey never failed to put Casey in a good mood on a bad day…and he was scared that they were going to lose him.

How would they handle it if Mikey did die? How would they be able to go one without him?

Casey felt something stinging his eyes, and he let out a growl as he wiped an angry hand over them. He shouldn't be thinking about it right now, but no matter how hard he fought against it, the memory would always come back. He had tried to be there for her back then. He really did try. But in the end, it wasn't enough. She was gone now, and he hadn't been there when she needed him…

…He hadn't been there to see her go…

Something thumped from the freezer. Casey actually did bump his head this time as he jumped in surprise, and he let out a painful groan as he turned to the fridge, rubbing his aching head. The fridge shook again. Casey raised a curious brow. Ice Cream Kitty lived in there; maybe she was hungry? Shrugging, he stood up, wiping the traces of tears from his eyes as he walked over to the freezer. "Okay, okay, you freaky cat thingy," he said, clearing his throat to get rid of the tremor in his voice, "Calm down, I'm gonna give you some – **_WHOA!"_**

He was totally unprepared when abruptly the cat leapt out of the freezer and onto the floor, and his eyes widened to saucers when she suddenly grew four legs and ran out of the kitchen, leaving a trail of ice cream in her wake. It took several seconds for Casey to shake himself out of his stunned trance as he ran after her. "Hey! S-Stop right there, you freaky feline!" he called as he raced into the main room. She had never done this before; in fact, she shouldn't have even been able to grow legs in the first place! How did she do that? Was it part of the mutation?

He continued his pursuit of the runaway kitty, only to find that the cat had already made a break for the turnstiles, and was about to run into the sewers when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, turning her head and locking her gaze with the humans'.

_Don't follow me. I am going to help._

Casey froze in place, not moving another inch. Did…did that cat just _speak _to him? Without even moving her mouth?

No…he heard that voice inside his _head_. She spoke to him through _his __**mind**_.

Without another 'word', Ice Cream Kitty took off into the tunnels, and Casey dared not go after her, instead just watching her leave with a blank look on his face.

"Casey, where've you been?!" April called as she walked out of Mikey's room, snapping Casey out of his daze as she reached up and pinched his ear, making him wince in pain. "I asked you to get me that cloth and bowl for me! You're lucky that Mikey wasn't coughing blood this time – wait, why is there ice cream all over the floor?"

She looked down and saw the trail of melted ice cream coming from the kitchen and leading into the sewers. She looked up at Casey, releasing his ear as she waited for an explanation. He looked down at her, his face completely blank of any emotion at all, and said without pausing to breathe, "…Ice Cream Kitty ran away and she told me not to follow her in my mind because she said that she could help Mikey and I think she just ran off to go after Leo Raph and Donnie."

April blinked at him, staring at him in complete silence for several seconds before blurting out a loud, "_WHAT?!" _as she folded her arms across her chest crossly,_ "_Do you really expect me to buy that?! How dumb do you think I am?!"

"Hey, look, do you even _see _the trail of ice cream here, red?! I'm not making this crap up!" Casey shouted back, "I swear, that cat is freaking psychic!"

As the two human teenagers argued in the living room over the concept of Casey's dwindling intelligence, back in his bed, Mikey stirred in his restlessness. He could sense it. He didn't know how, but he knew that she had left. And he knew that she would go and get help.

Though no one could hear him, he was mumbling something over and over again, something he knew only one person – or one _thing_ – could possibly hear…and he hoped she got the message…

"…tell…my other brothers…I said…'Hi'…"

* * *

"So what the heck makes you think that Kurtzman will know what Mikey's got, Leo?" asked Raph as the three turtle brothers ran down the tunnels, searching for the closest manhole cover that could take them to where Kurtzman lived. Though they had mapped the entire sewer system mapped in their minds (something they had learned over the years they hid underneath the city) they struggled to adjust to the additions of various tunnels they had to take with the increasing number of people who actually knew about them now…

…some ninjas they were.

Leo turned to look at Raph as they ran, "You remember how he knew just about everything there is to know about the Kraang and why they're here, right?" he said, "If he knows all of that, then maybe he can tell us about this new poison they made, or something they might have on their brain bodies that would do something like this if we touched them."

Donnie creased his brow in thought at his older brothers' observation as they leapt over pipes and holes drilled into the ground, avoiding unpleasant smelling sewage puddles as they pressed on. "But Leo," he began, "that wouldn't make any sense."

Slightly surprised, Leo turned his head to look at his taller younger brother. "Why not?" he asked, "They're aliens from another dimension, and we don't know what those slime balls could be carrying on their bodies."

"True, but think about it," Donnie replied as they all came to a stop, "If the Kraang had poisonous resonances on their bodies, don't you think we would have been dead by now? I mean, how many times have you punched a Kraang brain in the face, or Raph has kicked one into next week? You both and I are both fine, even after several occasions physical contact with the Kraang." He put a finger to his chin as he hummed in thought. "I wonder if…I wonder if it might've been some kind of poison the Kraang might have put into him via a dart or something, and we just haven't noticed it until now…that would make more sense…"

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain the crazy dreams and hallucinations he's been having," Raph said, folding his arms over his chest angrily, "he always mentioned something about a red skull and a dark hooded guy. That has nothing to do with the Kraang…"

Leo folded his arms, looking down in realization as he narrowed his eyes. Raph and Donnie both had very good points; nothing that Mikey was suffering from actually linked to the Kraang at all. But they were running low on options now; Mikey was still suffering, and they didn't know how much time they had left before it was too late. There had to be something they could do.

He was their baby brother; they would do anything to save him. They wouldn't give up on him, not now or ever…

Suddenly, something yowled from behind them deeper in the tunnels from where they had just come from, and they all turned sharply to find, much to their utter shock, Mikey's cat Ice Cream Kitty running towards them on four legs that hadn't been there before, and she leapt up onto Leo's shoulder, nuzzling his face with her own.

Leo blinked once as he stared at the melting creature sat upon his shoulder, nuzzling him as if she had done so over a thousand times already. "…Is that…wait…_what_?!" he cried.

"What the hell is Mikey's pet Ice Cream Kitty doing all the way out here?!" Raph barked, pointing a startled finger at the cat, "I thought she couldn't move out of the freezer without melting!"

"Forget _that,_ why the heck is she _walking?!" _Donnie squawked, "I thought her back legs were melted after she mutated! And how the heck did she manage to keep up with us? Better yet, why is she even here?!"

After she finished nuzzling Leo, Ice Cream Kitty ignored the brothers' chorus of shocked and obvious observations and leapt off of Leo's shoulder, landing back onto the ground on her feet and sitting on her rear end as she stared up at the flabbergasted turtles standing around her. She knew that she didn't have much time left until the powers she was given wore off, so she needed to make haste in her next actions. She just hoped they wouldn't skin her (or worse, _eat_ her) when she was done. After all, this was for Michelangelo, as well as the rest of the Land of Oz…

She lowered her head for a moment in deep concentration, and the boys watched her in confusion and disbelief when she suddenly raised her head again, and her back eyes were now shining brightly, the glow intensifying with every passing second. The turtles shielded their eyes from the light, taking several steps backwards. "Agh! W-What is that?! I can't see!" Raph shouted.

"What the heck is going on?!" Leo cried, "How is she doing this?!"

"Um, guys," Donnie called nervously, "I-I feel a wind coming on in here!"

True to Donnie's word, there was a strange wind picking up in the tunnels, swirling around them and gradually picking up speed. Now the boys were beyond confused. What was going on? How was Ice Cream Kitty doing this? Suddenly, the winds grew stronger, and the boys all let out a startled cry as they felt their feet leave the ground. They were flying?! No, the wind was lifting them up!

"AH! Get me DOWN from here!" Raph bellowed, but his cries went unheard over the noise of the howling wind as it swirled faster and faster, the light from the eyes of Ice Cream Kitty growing brighter and brighter, until finally the light enveloped them completely, blinding them in a pure white light…

…suddenly they were falling. They couldn't see anything at all around them as the flailed their arms and screamed as gravity pulled them downwards, the ground rushing up to meet them…

…and then they felt nothing at all as the world suddenly spiraled into darkness…

* * *

_Leo? Leo, get up!_

Leonardo let out a groan, rolling onto his side and away from the offending finger that prodded him. "…five more minutes, Sensei…" he mumbled tiredly.

Wait…what was he lying on? That didn't feel like his bed. It felt like sharp little blades of something else, soft yet coarse to the touch of his scaly skin.

Was that…grass?

He didn't get the chance to find out as that hoarse, angry voice yelled at him again.

…_I swear I'll kick your ass, Leo! _GET. **_UP_**!

Leo's eyes opened wide, and he shot up from where he lay flat on the ground with a cry. His heart beat rapidly against his chest as he looked to his right side, finding Raphael staring at him with green eyes filled with a mixture of confusion, anger, and downright fear. He reached out and grabbed Leo by the shoulders, shaking him slightly, "Dude! Where the hell are we?!" he cried, his angry mask already flaking.

"If you'd stop shaking me, I could find out!" Leo snapped, tearing himself from his younger brother's panicked grip as he looked at their new surroundings…

What in the world…?

Leo's eyes widened as he stood up, offering Raph a hand to help him up as well. They were surrounded by towering, thick, green leaved trees, higher than most buildings in the city as they seemed to touch the sky, which was a beautiful blue with fluffy clouds slowing moving in the wind overhead. The bushes in the clearing they had suddenly appeared in were actually very strange; they were multi-coloured, some purple, and some red…some with red and white polka dots. Leo and Raph looked to each other, their brows raised.

It was weird enough that they had suddenly appeared in a forest of some sorts…but what kind of forest was this?

Then something hit Leo like a train. "Wait…where's Donnie?"

They both turned left and right in search for their taller younger brother, but saw no trace of him. "Donnie?! Donnie, where are you? Answer me, Don!" Raph called, panic already rising in his stomach as he and his older brother searched the bushes. They had already lost a brother, and they didn't even know where they were or how on earth they got here in the first place. What if something had taken him whilst they were unconscious? In fact, how long had they been out for?

"Guys! I'm up here!"

Both turtles blinked in surprise, and then lifted their heads up to find that Donatello had not landed on the grass with them, and instead was tangled up in the vines of a tree, hanging there helplessly with one of the most done face in the history of being done. Raph slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from outright laughing, and Leo just smirked up at the unfortunate Donatello. The turtle in question was far from amused as he swayed a little from where he hung. "If you two are done, would you mind getting me down from here now?" he asked sourly.

Chuckling, and simply glad that his brother was alright, Leo walked over to the tree, unsheathing one katana from his belt. "Okay, Donnie. We'll be there in a –"

'_I can help if thou like!'_

The turtles froze as their eyes grew wide. Who was that?

It sounded an awful lot like…Malachi?

A snap was heard, followed by a little yelp from Donnie as one by one, the vines hanging him above their heads began to snap, jolting him as he began to slip from their grip. Donnie gulped. "Oh no, no no no no no no –"

The last vine came loose, and Donnie fell with a little scream. "Aw crud!" Raph cursed as he held out his arms to catch his falling brother, only for both turtles to go tumbling to the ground in a pile of tangled green limbs. Donnie was unharmed, but Raph was going to get some bruising later. Leo shook his head and sighed in agitation as he watched the two of him bicker over one getting off the other, until he had finally had enough and hauled them both to their feet with little to no effort.

The blue clad turtle then reached for his twin Katanas as he scanned the strange forest around them. "Alright, whoever you are, come out and show yourself!" he called out, his eyes narrowing in anger, "Where are we, and why did you bring us here?"

'_Thou possess-eth questions…'_

A bright blue light suddenly flashed before their eyes, nearly blinding them again as they covered their eyes. The light began to twist and morph into a face, a face that they instantly recognized, and their jaws seemed to drop to the floor as they witnessed the reveal of none other than…

"MALACHI?! Raph barked.

The floating head of Malachi nodded once at Raphael's exclamation, though he was actually surprised that they knew of him already. Was the sparrow wizard really so well known that tales of him were spread throughout different lands? How…amazing!

'_Yes' _the floating head responded, '_and I am the one who possess-eth the answers…'_

Blinking once in wide eyed unison, the three turtles turned to each other.

Just what the hell have they gotten themselves into _now_?


	5. Chapter 5: The Quest Begins?

**A/N: Hi! Sorry for the wait everyone! Here is Chapter 5!**

**Another Feel Fest! Also, great big thanks to Pen-Woman who helped me with this chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Quest Begins?**

It was approaching the midnight hour in the city of New York, yet the streets were still filled with lights and cars zooming across the roads, humans walking either in pairs or alone as they set off to their homes for the night. All was normal and calm on the surface world, but underground, the sewers had a heavy cloud of fear, confusion and doubt hanging over the heads of those who lived down there.

Pacing back and forth near the entrance of the lair, April O'Neil laced her hands behind her back, looking down at her continuously moving feet as she bit her lip in worry. Casey was back in Michelangelo's room, nursing him in her place whilst she waited for the other three turtles to return. The boys had been gone for hours now, with no calls or texts to tell her where they could have gone or what was taking them so long, and it was nearly morning. And not only that, but the longer they were gone, the longer Michelangelo would be forced to lay there in his bed and suffer, though she, Casey and Master Splinter were trying their best

…she could still hear him groaning and crying out in pain, even from where she stood at the entrance…

Wait, what if something happened to the others too? What if they had been captured by the Kraang trying to find the cure to whatever poison they had implanted into Mikey? What if they were poisoned too, and didn't have the strength to get back to the lair? What if they were –?

"April."

She gasped as she spun around to find Master Splinter standing behind her, looking down at her with that familiar serene expression that they were all so used to seeing on the calm ninja master…but his eyes were filled with worry, understanding, and pain.

April didn't need to use her psychic powers to tell that the old rat was worried. Worried that April was going to run herself into the ground. Worried about the sudden disappearance of his three oldest sons…and worried about the life of his youngest.

April's shoulders slumped as her eyes became filled with the tears that she had tried so very hard to restrain for their sakes, but she could hold them back no longer. And Splinter had only seconds to open his arms before April charged into him and hugged him with all the force she could muster, burying her face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her smaller trembling frame.

He said nothing to her as he stroked the back of her head softly with his clawed hand, because there was nothing for him to say. He knew what she was feeling. She had become so close to this family, just as Casey had over the months they had known him. They had both become a part of this family, both of them finding their own connection to each of the brothers. The thought of seeing one of them in such pain crushed them; it was more than they could even bear to think about…and it was happening right now, right before their very eyes…

"S-Sensei," April muffled into his chest as he held her, "what are we going to do?"

Splinter pulled away so he could look into her distraught blue eyes. "…we will do what we can to help Michelangelo," he said, brushing a tear off her cheek with his thumb and then placing his hand upon her shoulder. "We must remain hopeful that Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello return with the solution, and that our family will be whole once more. Worrying will only bring more burdens upon your shoulders. You must be patient…and remain calm."

Sniffing slightly, April laid her hand over the one he had on her shoulder, a sad smile finally find its way onto her face as she gazed up at the one that had been like a father to her when she had desperately needed one. "…I will, Master Splinter," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "…thank you."

He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "You're welcome…my child."

* * *

This wasn't real.

None of this was really happening.

This was all just some kind of twisted dream or a hallucination to play with their minds, make them think that they were losing their minds to keep them busy, stop them from finding the cure and getting back to Michelangelo in time. Well, he really hoped that wasn't the case, but there was just no way in the name of Charles Darwin that any of this was real…

Swallowing thickly, the startled purple clad turtle raised a trembling hand and rested it on his older brothers' shoulder. "…Leo…are we dreaming?" Donatello asked, his voice wavering as he stared straight ahead of him. "Please, tell me we're just dreaming all of this, and we're really just knocked out on the floor after playing video games all night…or something."

From where the blue clad turtle stood side by side with his two younger brothers, Leonardo shook his head, never tearing his eyes away from the floating head of the sparrow wizard before them as he brought up his hand to squeeze Donnie's. "…no, Donatello," he said simply, "We are not dreaming this."

Raphael could only blink once in utter bewilderment, one hand hovering over the hilt of his Sai out of instinct, and the other holding onto Leo's right arm out of an old childish habit that none of them had fully grown out of. He couldn't think of anything to say, but really, what was there for him to say? Here they were, standing in the middle of nowhere, with no idea on how they got to this strange looking place apart from the vague memory of a blinding flash of light before everything went dark, and now they were face to face with the floating head of that sparrow wizard that created that freaky maze inside their minds a few months back.

Seriously, could life get _any_ weirder for –?

Wait a second…

A snarl finally worked its way out of Raph as he pointed an accusing green finger up at Malachi. "Hey, this better not be another one of your stupid 'quests' Malachi, or I swear I'll bap you one, bird head!" he barked angrily, and Leo put a restraining hand on his shoulder to prevent him from stepping any closer to the floating head.

Malachi quirked a brow as he looked down at the angry red clad turtle. Another quest? What was he talking about? This was the first time he had ever seen these three turtles, and yet they seemed to know him almost personally…

Oh! Wait a moment! He knew about situations such as these. They lived in a universe that was almost parallel to the Land of Oz, so there were some beings in this land that they would mistake for the ones from their own land. In fact, these three turtles looked almost _exactly _like the three turtles that Michelangelo had first encountered in this land over a year ago. He guessed that there was another Sir Malachi in their reality as well, which was why the red clad turtle seemed so upset.

"_Rest assured, red turtle_," Malachi announced, his voice echoing slightly, "_I am not the same Malachi that you are familiar with from your own world. You see, thou hath been transported by my ally, Klunk, whom I am sure you know as…Ice Cream Kitty in your world, to the Land of Oz, in order to save the young one known as the bearer of the Sacred Crimson Orb."_

The three brothers blinked up at the sparrow wizard in confusion. He _wasn't _the same Malachi? Ice Cream Kitty brought them here? 'Sacred' what now? And where the heck was the Land of Oz –?

Wait…Mikey had mentioned something about a place called Oz months ago. It was back when he had been missing for nearly two weeks after he had been dragged into the tornado in that Kraang warehouse. He told them of their other selves and how he had travelled with them in order to get to this 'wizard' guy. To their surprise, they had actually believed him.

Who wouldn't after seeing a version of April…with a crown on her head?

Sharing a look of confusion with his younger brothers, who simply shrugged their shoulders, Leo turned back to Sir Malachi. "Um…okay then, Malachi," he said hesitantly, "we're listening. You said that you need our help to save the one who has this, 'Sacred Crimson Ball' or something. Who is that, and why do you need us to help them? If Mikey was here before and he managed to defeat this, 'Warlock' guy, then why didn't you get him instead of us?" He folded his arms over his chest in order to hide his distress upon the thought that he _couldn't _get through to Mikey...because Mikey was no longer _there_.

Malachi's expression turned grim at that. This was no good. If he told them the truth, they would surely try and kill him. But the truth must be told, and he did not have much time until Bishop decided to come back and check up on him. "…_I regret to say, Raphael," _he began, "_that the one known as the Bearer of the Scared Crimson Orb…__**is**_ _Michelangelo."_

The three brothers gasped. What? Mikey was the one _he_ wanted to help them save? Wasn't that what they were trying to do in the first place before Ice Cream Kitty brought them to this freaky place? In fact, how the heck did _this _version of Malachi know about Mikey?

"Wait a second," Donnie spoke, holding up a finger, "are you saying that what's happening to Mikey right now has something to do with whatever's in this place?"

Malachi nodded to the purple clad turtle. "_Yes. And you were correct in your assumption that he has been poisoned. In fact, the poison in his body is one of the most powerful ones in the land of Oz…one that has no cure that you can simply create yourself, for it was bestowed upon him through a mystical connection that he has with this land…" _He lowered his head, his expression written with shame and sorrow.

"_Once the poison has taken effect, Michelangelo will be dead within seven days_..._and I must confess to you turtles...It was I that bestowed this fate upon your young brother..."_

Their eyes went wide, their breaths hitching and their hearts stopping in their chests as they stared up at Malachi.

He…he couldn't be serious. This guy, the one who had brought them here in order to _help_ Mikey, was the one who did it in the first place? And for a mere moment, they had actually _trusted_ him?

Raphael's breaths came out in ragged, angry huffs as he glared daggers up at the floating head of Sir Malachi, his fists tightening around his Sais that were suddenly in his hands in mere seconds. This bird…was the reason why Mikey was wasting away in his bed back at the lair? The reason why Mikey, his baby brother, was in so much pain?

In seven days, Mikey was going to _die_…because of **_HIM_**?

"**_You_**..." he whispered in a low growl, before he lifted his head and blared, "**_I'M GONNA _****KILL****_ YOU_**!" And before either Donnie or Leo could stop him, Raph was already charging for the sparrow wizard, yelling Japanese curses at him as his head began floating away from him.

"_Wait! Stop_!" Malachi barked in panic as the enraged turtle swung madly at him, "_You must listen to me! I have –"_

"**_SHUT UP_**!" Raph seethed in rage as he continued to swing at the sparrow wizard, "Mikey's _dying_ because of you! Get down here! If you weren't just a floating ball I would pluck your feathers off and _turn you into a fried chicken!"_

"Raph, hold on!" Leo called, chasing after Raph to restrain him as he continued to chase the floating head across the space they had landed in.

Donnie stared at the scene before him. Should he laugh? Because this was pretty freaking funny.

But that didn't change the fact that he was still the reason that his little brother was suffering. He wasn't about to let that slide. The humour from his face was wiped clean off in a mere second, and a snarl replaced it as he reached back for his Bo staff, preparing to follow Raph's example for a change. After hours of worrying and wracking his brain endlessly for a solution or a cure for this poison – cures he had just figured out never even _existed _– he really, _really _needed to hit something.

And Malachi seemed like a good enough target right about now.

But just as his fingers brushed against the staff, he suddenly found himself frozen in place, unable to move at all as a bright blue light encased his entire body. Raph and Leo were in similar situations as they became glued to where they stood, their faces written with confusion and agitation as they struggled to move again, but they weren't going anywhere.

"_PLEASE!" _Malachi declared, "_Allow me to explain! It was I who had cursed him, yes, but it was never my true intention. I would _**never** _bring harm upon the young Michelangelo. I…I was forced to create the poison, against my will, by a man…an evil sorcerer named Lord Bishop, or as he so haughtily calls himself, The dark Mystic." _

Still unable to move, Leo raised a brow. "The Dark Mystic?" he repeated. What kind of stupid name was that? This guy, whoever he was, obviously viewed himself very highly. And they thought The Shredder was a weird name.

Nodding, Malachi continued. "_He has concocted a plan to take over all of Oz. Already, he has conquered the land of the Munchkins…and my own homeland. He heard of my power as a Great Highland Wizard of the North, and so used my family as a method of forcing me to do his will…I am sorry…I had no choice…"_

His eyes closed and sighed heavily as he released the turtles from their spell. He felt so ashamed. How could he have done this? It was as clear as the light of day that these three brothers cared deeply for Michelangelo…and he had gone and endangered him, cast him upon the very brink of death, because he was too weak to stop Lord Bishop himself, as a wizard like himself should have done…

Instead of unsheathing their weapons and attacking him, the three turtles instead lowered their arms and stared up at the sparrow wizard with faces full of sadness and understanding. Of course Malachi had no choice; whoever this Lord Bishop was, he was clearly very powerful, too powerful for Malachi to handle by himself. It was either sacrifice Mikey, or his entire family would die, possibly along with hundreds of innocent people. They would have done the same if a member of their own family was in danger…and at the moment, that was Mikey.

After sparing a quick glance at Raph, who had finally put his Sais away and was now looking at the ground, Leo took a step towards the large floating head. "…Malachi," he said, and the sparrow glanced at the oldest turtle, his eyes filled with sadness and sincerity…sincerity that could not be faked, even if you tried. Leo's gaze softened. "…listen…we understand why you had to do this. It was to save your family and millions of other people, we get it. And you brought us here to help fix this mess…so we're trusting you."

Malachi snapped his eyes up at the turtle with a little gasp_. "Y-you…you are? You are willing to put your trust in me, the one who is responsible for everything?"_

Leo smiled faintly. "To be honest, it isn't _exactly _your doing, but yeah, we'll help you save Mikey, your family, and all of…Oz, was it?" he stumbled.

Malachi nodded. "_Yes. The fate of your brother and the whole of the Land of Oz will rest on thine shoulders, oh great turtles of the Land of New York,"_ he declared, bowing his head in respect. Leo nodded once, his expression resolute as he turned back to his two remaining brothers, who also nodded in understanding. The three of them had no idea where on earth they were, or if they were even still on earth to begin with, but none of that mattered right now. What mattered the most was making sure that no matter what the odds, no matter what this strange new world threw at them, that they would fight, and keep fighting. Though they still had their doubts and fears, they would have to put their trust in Malachi, hope that he would lead the way through the lands, to wipe out the man that threatened the very existence of this world, and to save Malachi's family as well as the rest of Oz…

And to save their little brother, Michelangelo.

"Okay Malachi," Donnie said determinedly, "where do we start?"

Upon witnessing the pure determination and strength behind the eyes of these four young warriors, Malachi found himself staring at them in awe. Never before had he seen warriors so valiant and strong, even though they were in lands that were no longer familiar to them. They were willing to risk their lives not only for their family, but for an entire world.

It appeared that Klunk had made the right choice. These three turtles were definitely the ones that would liberate them all from the grasp of The Dark Mystic.

"_Very well, great turtles," _Malachi announced, "_I will tell you where to start your quest. First, you must journey out from this forest and into the Munchkin Village. Once there, you must go to the town square, and you will find a yellow bricked road. Start at the very beginning of the path, and follow it. Do not stray from it no matter what stands in your way, though it is a relatively the safest road to take. I will pop up as frequently as I can should you ever need guidance. In case you do lose your way, Klunk will guide you."_

The boys quirked confused brows up at the sparrow wizard. "Um…who the heck is Klunk?" asked Raph. Seconds later, a meow came from the bushes, and out popped a green eyed ginger cat, who scurried up to Leonardo and pawed affectionately at his foot, as if asking to be picked up. Blinking once in surprise, Leo obeyed as he bent down and picked up the cat carefully, letting her rest on his shoulder as she nuzzled his face against her furry one.

Wait a second…was this Ice Cream Kitty?!

Before Leo could ask, Malachi continued with his explanation. "_Klunk is more than a guide; she is also a pass to get through to the Emerald Gates once you reach the end of the yellow brick road. Once you're inside the gates, you must seek out the one called the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz. He will tell you how to seek out and defeat Lord Bishop, or The Dark Mystic…though I shall continue to call him the scum of the earth for all I care. Once the wizard sends you off, you will be on your own from there on out –"_

"Yo, I have a question!" Raph barked, "If your such a powerful wizard, then why don't you teleport us to the wizard, or better yet, _to the actual guy who's behind all of this_?!"

Malachi frowned sadly and shook his head. "_I cannot do that. You see, I am a prisoner in this place. If I were to bring you here myself, Lord Bishop will surely put an end to all of us before you can even draw thine weapons. Besides, I don't have enough power left to teleport you anywhere. It was only by forging my powers with Klunk that thou are where thou are standing right now."_

Raph's face fell. "Oh. Right. So we gotta walk all the way to this Emerald City place by ourselves?!" he cried.

Before Malachi could reply, he suddenly turned around him, his eyes full of fear. There was the sound of a door beginning to open, and a hard, cold voice filling the room.

Oh no. He was here. He had to make this fast. He turned back to the three turtles. "_My friends, I must depart. Lord Bishop has returned. I bid you farewell, and I wish thee good luck on thine Journey to the Emerald City!"_

And with that, Malachi's face suddenly disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, leaving the three turtles and their new cat standing bewildered and alone in the centre of the forest. They turned to each other with confused wide eyes, none of them daring to break the silence just yet.

"So…what now?" Raph finally said, "We only have less than seven days until this poison kills Mikey."

Leo nodded at his brother, and then turned to look at the cat resting on his shoulder. "Malachi said that this cat…um, Klunk I think he said she was, can lead us to where we're supposed to go. So we'll just have to follow her – um, Donnie? Are you okay?"

Raph and Leo turned to where Donnie stood, staring up at the sky with wide eyes, his left eye twitching slightly as he took a cautious step back. "U-Um…G-guys?" he stammered, bringing up a shaking hand and pointing up at the sky. "D-Don't you think we should start running now?!"

Raph and Leo instantly raised their heads to the skies, and their eyes widened to the size of saucers. Something very large, very fast, and probably very, _very _was flying towards them from the air at high speeds as it screeched and roared at them. But that was not what scared them; things tended to fly at them all the time.

What scared them was the fact that the thing flying at them…was April's dad in his mutant bat form.

Leo gulped. "Um…I'd say yes," he stuttered, "now would be a great time to **_RUN!"_**

And without another word, other than high pitched screams of terror coming from both the turtles and the feline, the group ran into the forest, a hot-tempered, crazed mutant Kirby Bat hot o their trail as they ran for their lives.

It was official; this quest was off to a _brilliant_ start…

* * *

**A/N: ...**

***face-palm* guys...this is not going well...**


	6. Chapter 6: The Red Brick Road

**A/N: So sorry for the long wait! Here is chapter six at long last!**

**I OWN NOTHING...**

**But this gon' be good!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Red Brick Road**

It was now three thirty in the morning.

It was still dark outside in the city, despite the obvious glimmer of the city lights and passing cars, though many of the humans above were sound asleep in their beds in their own homes. But in the sewers within the dojo of the abandoned subway station, all of the lights were still on, and everyone (as far as he knew) was still awake, including himself of course. How could he, or any of them, possibly sleep knowing that not one, but _all four _of his sons were missing or in possible jeopardy?

His mind reeling and his heart beating nervously against his chest, Master Splinter paced the floor of the dojo back and forth, stroking his beard in worry. He had always been somewhat overprotective of his sons, that much he knew he was guilty of on several occasions, but then again, he had a right to be. After all, when you were a mutant rat raising four mutant ninja turtles in the sewers, away from the disapproving eyes of the humans, who wouldn't be slightly overprotective?

And worse still, three of them were now missing, and the youngest was in danger of dying…could it be that he had failed them not only as their teacher, but as their father as well?

The old ninja master sighed heavily as his brows furrowed in both anger and worry. Where were his three boys? Why hadn't they returned or at least called him on the Cheese Phone? Were they alright?

Oh…now he was acting just like April had been a few hours ago. He needed to calm himself down, or it would be him that would be creating a grove into the dojo floor.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose in a controlled sigh, he sat down beneath the tree and closed his eyes, preparing to meditate. Worrying would only lead to more distress, and cause one to make foolish decisions and take desperate actions. Splinter knew that from experience, and he would not allow himself to make that mistake again. He cleared his worried mind, and allowed his body and mind to relax…

…this was when he suddenly heard a voice.

"_You are the one referred to as Master Splinter, I presume?"_

Jolting in surprise, Splinter snapped his eyes open in confusion, and he quickly scanned the room…only to find that he was no longer inside the dojo, or in a room at all. He was in some kind of blank, white space, filled with mist that pooled around him as she shot to his feet in shock. Where was he? Who was that speaking to him? It sounded…like _him_. But he hadn't said anything out loud, had he? Maybe he was simply hallucinating. Meditation tended to do that to him sometimes…

"_Trust me, Splinter, you are not imagining things," _said that voice again, making Splinter attain a defensive stance out of instinct as it continued to speak, "_allow me to explain myself. If you would please calm yourself down. I mean you no harm."_

"Who are you?" Splinter growled, his dark red eyes roaming quickly around this strange, empty space as he held out his jade staff in front of him, ready to strike out at anything that dared attack him. "Why do you mimic my voice? Is this some kind of trick?"

"_This is no trick, my friend. I am merely here to deliver a message to you. It is about your three sons, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello…"_

Splinter's eyes widened, and his breath hitched at the mention of his sons, before his red orbs narrowed again darkly as he let out a low growl from his throat. "I will only ask once more," He said slowly, his temper wearing very thin, "Who are you, and what have you done with my sons?! Show yourself, creature!"

"Very well," the voice said, sounding oddly closer, "Look behind you."

Splinter whirled around, his staff in hand and ready to attack…

…and he all but let it drop to the ground, letting it slip from his numbed fingers as he stared with wide, unbelieving eyes at what he saw standing only inches away from him. The breath left his lungs completely as his heart seemed to stop in his chest. He couldn't move, nor could he speak as memories flashed before his eyes, memories of his past life…Miwa…Tang Shen…

This was not real.

There was no way that he could possibly, at this very moment, be staring into the eyes of…

…_himself._

That was _him_. That was _him_ as a **_human_**.

Dressed in a white hakama, Hamato Yoshi smiled warmly as he folded his hands behind his back, staring up at the taller and very shocked mutant rat before him. "Is that what I look like in my rat form to others?" he said, putting a finger to his chin as he smiled, "I must say, I am much taller than I thought I was. The beard is a very nice touch as well."

Splinter blinked once. Then he shut his eyes and shook his head as he put a hand over his pounding head, gritting his teeth as he fell to his knees, unable to steady himself any longer as they suddenly grew numb and gave way. What was happening? Why was he seeing himself like this, in his _human _form? Was he losing his mind at long last, like the Shredder had done? Or was someone, or some_thing,_ playing a cruel game with him? And if they were, why on earth were they acting so _calm_ about it?!

"Who…who are you?" he finally managed to say, dropping his hand to his side as he looked back up at himself, "And why have you come to me at this time? What do you want from me?"

Yoshi smiled again, walking over to the mutant rat and laying a hand on his shoulder. "As you have already gathered, I am _you_," he said pleasantly, "but I am not you from your past life, so to speak. I am a version of you from another world that is known by many as the Land of Oz…"

He paused as he and the rat locked gazes, staying silent for the longest time, until Yoshi spoke again. "…you do not believe me do you?" he smirked.

Splinter sighed, placing his hand back on his head again as he shook it. "I…I cannot bring myself to. I am sorry…this is all too much," he said wearily.

Yoshi hummed in thought. "I see. Perhaps an encounter face to face was not the best idea after all," he confessed. "Well, even great wizards make mistakes sometimes," he mused with a shrug of his shoulders.

Splinter's snapped open again. Wait…did he just call himself a _wizard?!_

Before he could say anything, Yoshi was already talking again. "Yes, before you ask, I am a wizard in the land I come from. It is a land filled with mystical beings and magic, but of course, like many other worlds and realities, there are those who wish to do others harm, and claim these lands as their own out of their own greed and evil doings. Such calamities have happened many times in my world, and in yours as well I presume. Do you recall the time where your youngest son, Michelangelo, was taken from you, and then returned from the winds of a tornado?"

Splinter looked to the side and furrowed his brows in thought. "…yes. I do recall that time," he said, then slid his gaze back to his other self. "That was _your_ doing, was it not?" he guessed.

Yoshi shook his head, still smiling. "No. It was not. There was indeed a reason why your son was brought to our world, and he fulfilled that part of his destiny with the love and bravery I had expected to see in a child like him. But now…"

A sad frown came across his face. "…he is grave danger, as you have already witnessed. Due to the poison spell that has been cast upon him by a being far more evil than the one that Michelangelo defeated, he is unable to do anything to stop the oncoming disaster. However…"

"My three sons, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael can," Splinter finished. "Is that why you have taken them?"

"That is partly the reason, yes. But in defeating the one behind this, the one called Lord Bishop, they will also be able to find a way to cure Michelangelo before the poison ultimately kills him. With their willpower and great skills as the warriors you trained them to be, I am certain they will be able to overcome the challenges ahead of them. Rest assured, Splinter-san; I will aid them in any way that I can, but this is something they alone must accomplish."

The old rat master lowered his head, closing his eyes as he let out a sigh. Everything was happening so fast. First Michelangelo falls ill, then his three eldest sons disappear…he sees the man he had once been, but as a _wizard _of all things, and discovers that his boys were whisked away to another land in order to defeat a foe they had never even heard of, and to somehow find the cure to save Michelangelo. What was their life coming to? Splinter shook his head as he brought up a hand to pinch the space between his brows. "Why is it that as soon as I let my boys wander to the surface for the first time that all these strange things keep happening?" he said almost to himself as he sighed, "As if our lives were not already strange enough as it is."

Yoshi chuckled at that, offering the old rat a hand in order to help him stand up. "Indeed, Splinter-san. That tends to happen when you raise such a remarkable family."

Hesitantly, Splinter took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He folded his hands behind his back as he regarded his human self. "You will ensure that my sons return home alive, safe and unharmed?" he asked, his voice hard but not angry. Just very, _very _worried, as any father should be.

Yoshi smiled again and bowed to the old rat. "I swear, upon my very life, that I will do what I can to keep your sons safe, though as I said before, this quest if for them to achieve on heir own. Surely you of all people believe in them, do you not?"

Splinters' brows rose at that in surprise. Then his face softened into a knowing smile. "…yes, of course. I always have believed that my sons could accomplish so much together, and I have never stopped believing. Not once…" he said softly.

Yoshi placed a hand on his shoulder again, patting it reassuringly as suddenly, his form began to fade before Splinter's eyes. "I know. I regret to say that I must depart for now. Take care of your young son, for he still has so much to live for…and his destiny has not yet been completed…"

Splinters' brows furrowed in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean by –?"

A bright light flashed before his eyes, momentarily blinding him as he covered his eyes with his arms. When he lowered them again, to his surprise, he was back in the dojo, sat underneath the tree with his jade staff in front of him just as he had been before. He blinked, putting a hand on his head as he stared down at his staff.

Just what on earth happened just now? Was that all real? Had he really met himself from another reality, or was his mind simply playing tricks with him? And more importantly…

…where his three sons alright?

* * *

Screaming at the top of their lungs, the three turtles burst through the thick bushes as they ran through the forest, with the ginger cat Klunk practically digging her claws into Leonardo's shoulder as she held on for dear life. The Kirby Bat was still very hot on their tails, even as they leapt over streams and hopped across giant multi-coloured mushrooms in order to evade him. It appeared that the bat was even more agile than they had thought, and much, _much _faster too.

Running next to Leo, Raphael panted in both exhaustion from running for so long, and out of fear of getting eaten alive is he stopped for even a moment, which he made sure was _not _going to happen anytime soon. "L-Leo!" he called over the screeches and flapping of wings from the creature chasing them, "What's the plan again?! Kinda running out of breath here!"

Keeping his eyes focused ahead of him so he didn't trip on something, Leo puffed "I'm working on it! Just keep running!"

"Well work FASTER!" Donatello barked from Leo's left, "Because I didn't get teleported here by some freaking magic cat to get turned into bat food! And bats don't even _eat_ turtles, so why is he chasing us?!"

"Less talking, more running!" Raph retorted, but he was unprepared when suddenly his foot caught on a stray branch sticking out from the ground, and after yelping in surprise and grabbing onto Leo's arm, who then latched onto Donnie, the three of them were sent tumbling down a steep pink-tinted hill, rolling down as they scrapped their arms, legs and faces on stray rocks and twigs until they finally hit the ground in a pile of tangled green limbs. They lay there and groaned in pain, unable to untangle themselves as they squirmed and struggled. Unfortunately, they were not fast enough as Kirby Bat swopped down upon them, and used his clawed feet to haul one of the turtles out of the pile. And equally unfortunately, that turtle was Donatello.

"_WHOA! GUYS! HELP!" _the purple turtle cried as he kicked his feet wildly in an attempt to get himself free, but to no avail.

"Donnie!" Leo cried, leaping up from the ground and wrapping his arms around his brothers' legs, trying to weigh the mutant bat down. But he was stronger than he seemed as he continued to fly upwards. Even Klunk climbed up Leo in an attempt to help, but it did nothing; a cat only weighed so much after all. Honestly though, was this any way to treat guests?

"Let my brother go!" Raph snarled as he latched onto Leo's belt and hung there, "I don't care if you're April's dad or not! I'll pound you if you don't put them down **_right_**_**now**_!"

But the bat only roared as he used his muscular wings to propel himself upwards, taking the turtles with him as he flew off farther into the distance with the turtles screaming all the while. Where was he taking them? Did he have a nest full of tiny baby mutant bats that he was going to feed them to? They hadn't even been in this world for over an hour and already they were going to die?

Great.

Their chances of living were looking slimmer by the second until abruptly, Kirby Bat let Donnie go, and the purple turtle only managed to utter a "What?!" before the three of them (four including Klunk) fell from the air, screaming again until they bounced off of a large, multi-coloured bush, and then onto a cold concrete surface.

Kirby Bat flew down to sit beside them on his haunches, his wings folding to his sides as he regarded the three turtles, who glared up at him from where they lay. He offered them a smile of sorts, or as much of a smile his bat face could manage before taking a few steps backwards.

They groaned again, more out of aggravation than pain this time as they struggled to stand up, hauling each other to their feet as they began to get their bearings again. It was clear that they weren't in a nest…but this was by no means any better.

They let out quiet gasps and their eyes widened to find that they were standing in the middle of the remains of what they assumed used to be Munchkin Land. Houses of all kinds were torn down, completely obliterated as the remains lay scattered across the city. The ground was covered in ash and soot, and plants of every kind, even trees were scorched or wilted, letting the turtles know instantly know that this place had been burned to the ground.

Donnie gazed around them with shocked and desolate eyes. "Whoa," he breathed as he walked forward, his brothers, Klunk and to their surprise Kirby Bat following him, "who could have done this?"

"It has to be that Lord Bishop punk!" Raph snarled as his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "Kirby Bat must've been trying to lead us here this whole time. But there's nothing here!"

"Remember what we have to do here, Raph," Leo said as he walked past piles of singed wood and broken glass, "Malachi said that we have to find the yellow brick road. Maybe that's why Kirby brought us here –"

He was cut off when something soft underneath his foot stopped him short, and he looked down and lifted his large green foot to find a stuffed, knitted doll in a green dress lying on the ground. It was slightly ripped and dirty from all the soot and dirt, and its straw hair was falling out from her head. He bent down and carefully picked it up, wiping the dust off of its smiling face. He frowned as he stared down at it sadly. The poor little girl who left his behind was probably missing it…and must be very scared…

Kirby Bat made a series of grunts and hisses to get their attention, and gently nudged Leo, looking down at him with eyes filled with despair and fear. He nudged Leo's arm gently, and upon understanding what he wanted, Leo lifted his arm and laid his hand on top of his head. Kirby Bat let out something similar to a purr from his chest, taking comfort in the contact. Klunk mewed sadly up at the bat, and she purred as she rubbed her furry head against his leg. He had once been a fine man, the Mayor of Munchkin Land. But when Bishop attacked, he was rendered powerless, and then transformed into this creature. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as all of his people were taken from their homes and families. No one was spared that day. She could only imagine what was happening to them right now…

From the side, Donnie watched them with a sad frown. It appeared that in this world, April's father was a part of this city, and must have been transformed into this mutant form after whatever that Lord Bishop had destroyed it and taken the villagers.

Donnie's frown deepened as he glared down at the ground, where a shattered photo frame of a happy looking family lay before him. Why did this so-called 'sorcerer' have to do so much harm to innocents just to get what he wanted?

It sounded a lot like another crazed villain that they had come to know all too well…

"Guys!" Raph called from across the village, causing all heads to look up and snap to where he stood near the edge of the city. "I think I found the road…" he said, "…or whatever's left of it…"

Quickly, Donnie and Leo hurried over to where Raph was stood, and their eyes widened to find that the road they were supposed to take was utterly obliterated. The road was a mess of mud and shattered bricks strewn across the ground, and what was worse, it seemed that the road was completely covered up with mud and grass as it stretched on, making it seem that the road just ended there. Their shoulders slumped dejectedly, and at their feet, Klunk seemed to let out a huff of her own.

As far as they were concerned, the yellow brick road no longer existed.

"Well that's just great!" Raph barked, throwing his hands up in the air as he turned to Leo, "That was the only way we could get to that wizard guy! _Now_ what do we do?!"

Leo sighed heavily, folding his arms across his chest. "Don't look at me, Raph. I'm just as stuck and upset as you are…" he replied sadly, "we don't know where we are, and out only lead to the guy behind all of this is stuck in his lair. Unless there's some other road we can take, we're stuck here."

Letting out a long sigh of his own, Donnie turned away from the destroyed road, letting his eyes roam around the decimated city around them. Suddenly, his eyes came across and locked on something bright and red in the distance. Raising a brow, he squinted to get better focus, and then he let out a gasp. There was another road, but this one was painted red. It led off into the other direction to the yellow brick road though…Wait a minute. Malachi only said that the yellow brick road was the _relatively safest_ road to the Emerald City, not the _only _road. And besides, they were ninjas. They've handled more dangerous things in their lifetime.

Also, what other choice did they have? Mikey's life was on the line; they had no time to sit and wait any longer.

Nodding to himself, Donnie turned to his older brothers. "Guys, I think I found another road we can take," he said, pointing to the red road that led off into a forest, "I think it leads to the Emerald City too. Malachi just said that the yellow one was slightly safer."

Humming to himself as he followed Donnie's gaze, Leo folded his arms over his chest again. He looked back at what was left of the yellow road. There was no sense in trying to find their way to the city on that road; they would be lost before they could even get half way. "Well…it's the only option we have left," he said, turning to his taller brother with a smile of approval, "it's better than just sitting here. Nice work Donnie."

Donnie smiled back in response. "Thanks. And who knows? Maybe we'll find someone who can help," he mused as he began walking forward, "we might even run into our counterparts from this world. Come on!"

Behind them, Kirby Bat and Klunk shared a wide eyed look.

Oh no. They weren't thinking of taking the red brick road, where they? They couldn't possibly be thinking that! Were they really that stupid?! The turtles remained unaware of the cat and mutant bat's distress as they began to walk down the red road, and Raph cracked his knuckles as he grinned devilishly. "Well, dangerous or not, I'm ready to crack someone's head open once we get to that Bishop punk! He's gonna pay for messing with our family!"

Klunk mewed desperately at them, scrambling to her feet and loping after the three turtles as she tried to stop them, but they only continued on their way until they disappeared through the thick trees. Klunk's head fell in despair, but she knew she had no choice but to follow them. The red brick road was forbidden among the Munchkins to take, for there were perils and creatures hidden within their depths.

Many have ventured through that forest…none ever come back. Or if they ever did, they were never the same again.

She turned to where Kirby Bat sat on his haunches, staring after them sadly. He couldn't go after the turtles even if he wanted to. Something, a dark spell of sorts Klunk presumed was cast upon him during his transformation, was keeping him from ever leaving Munchkin land, leaving him once again powerless to help at all.

Klunk could relate.

He dipped his head, bowing to her as a silent manner of saying 'good luck', before he spread his large bat wings and took to the skies, screeching as he flew back into the forest where the turtles first appeared. Klunk watched him fly away into the distance, before turning back and running after the three turtles as they ventured into the unknown along the Red Brick road.

However, as she finally caught up to them and climbed her way back onto Leo's shoulder, which was where she felt the safest, she couldn't help but scowl to herself. It was times like this that she wished she could talk.

Then she would be able to tell them exactly how stupid they were right now.

* * *

**A/N: Oh boy...**


	7. Chapter 7: Birds of Prey

**A/N: I'm sooooooo sorry for the late update!** **but thanks to everyone who commented and read this s far! i love you guys!**

**I OWN NOHING!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Birds of Prey**

Alone in the silent darkness of Bishop's study room, the lone sparrow wizard stood in the centre of the room in front of the table, where the book of spells lay open in front of him. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose, he then uttered a single spell, and a swirling crystal orb appeared from out of the pages, floating just in front of his eyes as it began to glow to life. As an image flickered upon its shining surface, he frowned sadly, his eyes filled with regret.

This was torture.

Simply standing there, watching through his crystal orb as the young turtle tossed and turned in pain on his bed, moaning and crying out for this agony to stop, was more than the sparrow wizard could bare. The two humans and the giant rat were at his side all the while, taking it in turns to watch over him and care for him in any way that they could. A day had already passed since the three turtles arrived in Oz, and unbeknownst to them, his condition had only worsened the longer they were away. The dark veins continued to spread from his heart, and were already working their way down his chest and up to his neck and shoulders.

Once they spread all over his body by the seventh day, he would be finished…if the pain and endless nightmares didn't drive him over the edge first that is.

But Malachi knew he wouldn't. Michelangelo was stronger than that; he was not so weak that he would take his own life simply to end the pain he felt, though most others in his case wold have already done so at his age. He had been able to overcome the Warlock of the West, with the help of his alternate brothers, which had been far more difficult than this. If he could do that, then surely he could hang on, just until his brothers succeeded in their quest to the Emerald City and stop Bishop…

Speaking of which…

The sound of a lock clicking rang in the silence of the room as the large doors opened, and Sir Malachi turned to find Lord Bishop, the wretched man himself, his hands folded behind him as he strode calmly as ever to where the bird was stood. Behind his spectacles, his eyes danced with malice as a cruel smile grew on his lips.

"I love to watch them squirm," he said, staring at the suffering orange clad turtle in the crystal before him, and then turning to look down at Malachi, "you have done well, Malachi. However, as patient as I am…could you speed up the process?"

Malachi's dark eyes darted up to the black cloaked man, widening in shock. "…p-pardon, milord?" he stuttered.

Bishop smirked at the bird's obvious distress. "You heard me. Speed it up," he repeated coldly, "Although I would _love_ to watch him suffer for seven days, I have heard news from my sources in Munchkin Land that there are…three _more_ turtles making their way to The Emerald City in search for the Great and Powerful. They happen to be the blood brother turtle counterparts from Michelangelo's world, and they have somehow travelled here in search for a cure, though I know not how...but I will see to it that they never leave Oz alive."

He turned away for a moment, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his finger before clasping his hands behind his back again. "I have worked too hard for too long to have my plans shattered by three idiotic brats who think for even a moment that they could stop me. Speed up the process, Malachi. And while you're at it, I'm going to send out one of my minions to take care of the three new turtles."

As he made his way to the doors again, he turned back to glare at him with dark foreboding eyes. "Do _not _disappoint me, Malachi. You know the consequences if you do." And with that, he strode out of the room, closing and locking the doors behind him with a flick of his wrist, leaving Malachi on his own once again.

Malachi let out a low growl, his feathered fists shaking with fury…and then that fury all but faded as he hung his head in shame. This couldn't be happening. Why did he insist that this child suffer any more than he already was? Better yet, why was Malachi still doing what he asked? Because he was a spineless coward, that's why. With a heavy heart and a sad, resigned sigh, he lifted a feathered hand, closed his eyes and muttered the same spell again.

"_Zenzan malculan horoko zutho… Ifalas zaras I e zaraq_…**_Ifalas zaras I e zaraq_**!"

As soon as the words left his lips, a shrill cry from Michelangelo brought his attention back to the orb, and he watched as the veins grew farther and quicker across his body, and he curled in on himself, practically screaming in agony. The two humans became almost frantic at that, and even the old rat had rushed in now, sitting beside his wailing youngest son as he tried to soothe him, stroking his cheek with his slightly trembling hand as the two humans rushed off in search for whatever the rodent had requested for.

Malachi simply couldn't watch anymore, and with a wave of his hand, the image disappeared, along with the terrible screams of the boy. He felt tears sting his eyes as he looked down at his feet. The poor child...now he would only last no more than four days at this rate.

And it was all his fault.

What were his older brothers going to say if they ever found out?

His eyes widened and he felt his heart drop in his chest. Wait…his brothers…oh no!

Bishop said he was going to send out something to take care of them. What would he send out? Better yet, _who _would he send out? He had millions of slaves and minions at his disposal, some more powerful and formidable than the last.

Would they be strong enough to defeat them, or would they fall prey to whatever monstrosity Bishop sent their way?

* * *

Leonardo grunted with effort as he sliced yet another thick low hanging vine out of their path with his katana blade, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his hand as the three of them trekked through the thick forest. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and their feline guide Klunk had been travelling through the forest down the Red Brick road throughout the entire day, and now that night had finally befallen them, it was a lot harder to see and move around without tripping over rocks or stumps or falling into the occasional ditch (which Donnie had already done several times, much to the hilarity of Raph), but they were quickly growing tired, both from the intense heat and simply from travelling without rest for hours.

Though Klunk was not as tired as the turtles (since she had been riding on Leo's shoulder for the entire trip so far) she was still very much on the edge, her eyes darting this way and that cautiously, and her ears pricked up. She knew the dangers of what lay ahead of them in the forest of the Red Brick road, but they had yet to come across anything that could be considered dangerous. Nevertheless, she remained vigilant.

There was no way this peace would last for much longer.

It was Raphael who finally shattered the silence between the brothers as he let out a long groan. "Man, this stinks! And here I thought I wouldn't mind some time outdoors, but this is too much! And the stupid bugs!" he growled, flicking away another bug off his shoulder. "Bugs. Must. **_PAY_**!"

Behind him, Donatello nodded in agreement. "I hate to say it, but I'm kinda with you on that one, Raph," he sighed, ducking underneath another thick branch that hung low as they continued down the red path, "But you have to admit…being in a world like this…" he paused for a moment as the four of them entered a clearing, the large, man-sized leaves above in the high trees parting slightly to reveal a spotlight of the moons glow on the emerald grass, and watching as moths, larger than normal, flew from out of the bushes and into the air, the wind from their wings blowing the beautifully large, tree sized flowers slightly to the side and making their mask tails flow behind them.

"…it's almost incredible, if not beautiful, don't you think?" Donnie smiled softly as he glanced back at his two older brothers, who had also stopped to take in the strange beauty of the forest clearing.

Despite his bad mood, Raph whistled in admiration. "Yeah…I guess so…**_WAUGH!" _**he cried as suddenly, a very large grey moth burst from the cover of the grass near where Raph was standing, and it flapped its wings and took off into the air, nearly blowing Raph right off his feet from the wind its wings created as it flew. Raph stared up at the over-sized insect with wide green eyes. "…That's. A big. Bug," he stuttered, "Why the heck are these things so big?"

Humming in thought as he stared after the giant moth, Leonardo patted Klunk lightly on her head as she purred with pleasure from the contact. "Remember how Mikey told us that things were a little crazy in this dimension? Maybe here, small things are bigger, and big things are smaller," he mused, "I mean, look at these trees. They're ten times as big and as thick as the ones in our world. And look at the leaves. Heck, even the flowers are bigger than us. It makes us look like turtle ants in comparison. It's…actually pretty cool if you think about it."

Whilst Donnie nodded eagerly in agreement and began to ramble on about different possibilities, Raph paled slightly. Though he dared not mention it in front of his brothers, the thought of more giant cockroaches scared the ever-loving hell out of him. Instead, he chose to keep his mouth shut.

Suddenly, Klunk's head rose up towards the sky, her fur standing on end as she bared her fangs and hissed. Something was coming. She could sense it a mile away. It practically dripped with evil from wherever it hid in the darkness of the forest. No doubt that Bishop had sent it out to kill them. She just needed to figure out exactly what it was.

Leo looked at the bristling feline on his shoulder in confusion. "Hey, hey, what's the matter Klunk?" he asked as he gently took her off his shoulder and set her down on the grass, yet she continued to hiss. His brow creased in confusion. What was her problem? She was just fine moments ago…

It was then that he finally felt it, and his eyes widened as his hand slowly reached up for the hilt of his katana. Something was watching them. It had an aura that practically reeked of death and darkness, flipping his mental switch and setting his body on high alert. His younger brothers saw his movements, and the look in his eye told them immediately to do the same as they reached for their weapons, scanning the forest around them, which they had noticed had become deathly silent, apart from the wind that shifted the trees and the bushes around them.

Donnie swallowed nervously. "…um, Leo?" he said quietly, "r-remember how you said that small things are bigger in this world? I'm beginning to see a downside to that factor."

Leo nodded in silent agreement as he slowly took out his Katanas, the three turtles closing in shell to shell in a protective circle round the psychic feline, who continued to bare her fangs and hiss at the trees.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech in the distance, and the three turtles tensed up at the horrible sound that seemed to echo all around them. They held their weapons out in front of them in defensive stances, ready to take on whatever beast was on the prowl. However, when the screech came again, Donnie narrowed his eyes in thought. He had heard a sound like that somewhere before, but he just couldn't place it. He knew off the bat it was some kind of bird though…

Then it hit him.

"Guys, I think I know what it is that's hunting us," he said as he turned to his brothers, who turned to face him as he began to explain. "I remember going through different kinds of bird calls for April's biology project, and that one was one of them. I think it belongs to a type of owl."

"An _owl_?!" Raph barked in disbelief, "We're being hunted by an _owl_?!"

Undeterred by Raph's understandable outrage, Donnie nodded. "Yeah. And that's not the worst part. This owl is one of the largest species of owl in the world called the Grey Owl. And if what Leo says is right, and small things are supposed to be bigger here…" he stammered.

"…then just how big _is_ this owl?" Leo finished nervously, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead as his hands tightened around the hilts of his Katanas. Owls were known to be silent killers; never seen nor heard by their prey before it was too late, just like a ninja.

So if it indeed was hunting them…they would never see it coming.

Their only warning was a whistle of wind before a large dark shadow was upon them, and they spun around just in time to see the largest, most terrifying owl they had ever seen swoop down from the skies as it screeched down at them, it's large round face as dark and intimidating as its glowing golden eyes as it glared at their tiny forms. Its feathery powerful wings were beyond massive, creating winds around them as it flapped them up and down in swift strong motions.

Despite the size of this bird of prey, that was not what frightened the turtles, though it was one of the main factors of their terror as their eyes widened to the size of saucers as they screamed.

It was the razor sharp talons that extended towards them that froze their blood with fear.

And as cruel as fate would have it, it was Leonardo who's body was locked in a tight grip in the birds' clutches.

Leo screamed as he was grabbed and lifted right off his feet, his two katana slipping right out of his hands as the owl carried him up. "GUYS! _HELP_!" he cried.

"_LEO!" _Donnie and Raph cried as they leapt up and grabbed Leo's outstretched hands, followed by Klunk who latched onto Donnie's shell, her claws digging into his scutes as she clung on for dear life, as did the turtles as the owl took off into the forest, darting through trees and swooping underneath thick branches with his prey still struggling desperately in its claws. It looked back to find that the other two turtles were still hanging onto the one he had decided to go for, and that the red clad turtle had what appeared to be a dagger-like weapon in his hands, ready to impale the owl's talon. The bird of prey would not allow that, and so with a mighty screech he flung the turtles right off, watching coldly as they spiraled down back to the forest floor, their only cushion being the grass as they landed with a thump, and the bird took off again, with its captive still locked in its grip despite his intense struggles.

"_RAPH_! _DONNIE_!" Leo screamed down at them.

From where they lay sprawled out on the grass, the two brothers and the orange feline gazed up in despair. "**_LEOOOOO!" _**the turtles cried helplessly as the enormous owl flew deeper into the forest with their older brother trapped defenselessly in its talons.

The two remaining turtles shared a scared look. Their older brother and leader was gone, their youngest brother was back in their own world on the brink of death, depending on them to save his life, and here they were, alone and completely lost, for they had completely turned away from the Red Brick Road when the owl had struck.

What were they supposed to do now?

Well, for Donatello at least, the answer to that question was quite simple.

**_Panic._**

"Oh my god, oh my god this _can't be happening!" _the purple clad turtle cried as he scrambled to his feet and began to pace the grass back and forth, "Leo was kidnapped! Leo was _kidnapped_ by a _freaking __**owl**__! _I-I mean, owls don't even _eat _turtles, so why the ever-loving hell would it go after us?!" He spun around to face Raph, who had since stood up and dusted the dirt and grass off his arms and legs. "Raph, what're we gonna do?! Leo's gone, we lost the red road, we're in the middle of freaking nowhere with no map, no guide, no _nothing_! WE'RE GONNA DIE OUT HERE –"

He was stopped short when Raph's fist connected with his jaw, sending his sprawling once again to the grass. He put a hand to his aching jaw as he looked up at Raph, and was about to curse him but was cut off by the very, _very _angry look on the red clad turtle's face as he towered over Donatello.

"Would you just _shut the hell up?!" _he boomed, his voice echoing across the silent night, "We are _not _gonna die, and neither are Leo or Mikey! Pull yourself together and _think_, dammit!Ain't that what you're supposed to be good at, brainiac?!"

Despite himself, Donnie snarled as he stood up again, easily towering over his older brother due to their strange height difference. "Well _excuse _me, Raphael," he spat, "but I cannot possibly work _with all this pressure! _I'd like to see _you _come up with a better idea to save Leo! Go ahead, Mr. Hothead, because I would _love _to hear it!" he concluded coldly as he crossed his arms and waited with a deep frown and narrowed reddish brown eyes.

Raph felt his anger boil, and he so desperately wanted to hit Donnie again, but he knew he couldn't. instead, he let out a long, resigned sigh. It was true, he actually _couldn't _think of anything, not whilst he too was under so much distress. They had two brothers within the space of twenty-four hours, and they were alone, and they were scared. Usually, this would be the part where Leo cut in and told them both to calm down and properly think things through, or where Mikey would try to shine a little light on the subject and take the tension away.

But of course, they weren't here to do that anymore.

It just comes to show how much they really needed them.

Donnie saw the lost look on his older brothers' face, and his own anger died away as his shoulders slumped. He let out a soft sigh as he looked down at the grass, where Klunk was rubbing herself against his ankles in a comforting gesture. "…I'm…I'm sorry about that, Raph," he said, rubbing his arm nervously as he looked off to the side.

Raph shook his head and patted Donnie's shoulder. "It's okay, bro," he said, his eyes full of understanding, but then replaced with determination again as he squeezed Donnie's shoulder. "But we can't just sit here and do nothing. Mikey needs us, and so does Leo! There's gotta be something we can do!" he urged.

Donnie nodded, tapping a finger on his chin as he looked down in thought, finally calmed down enough to properly wrack his brain for a solution. "…well…we know that owls make their nests in the trees, so the first thing to do would be to follow the direction the owl went off into, and then look for a nest of some sort in the trees…" he paused for a moment as another thought hit him. "But there might be a problem…we'll never be able to get there fast enough on foot, and if we do find a nest, how the heck are we gonna get up a tree that bigger than the Empire State building?"

Klunk's head perked up at that. Finally, something that she could do to help! Skittering away from the two turtles, who looked after her retreating form in confusion, she climbed up a tall flower that grew nearby, using her claws to scale the stem without falling until she was seated upon the top. From there, her green eyes began to glow bright blue again, growing wide as she sat unmoving, staring out into the darkened forest as her psychic mind called out to the inhabitants of the forest. There was only one creature they could possibly count on to help them. In the other world, they were smaller than a penny, but in this land, they would prove to be worthy steeds for these two turtles to ride on.

Finally, they answered her call, and the ground beneath their feet trembled as they began to emerge from their dirt caves. Donnie and Raph held on to each other for balance as the ground shook, and Raph took out his Sai in case whatever was coming decided they looked delicious.

Behind them, the dirt erupted like a volcano, sending grass and large chunks of mud flying everywhere, and Raph was immediately standing protectively in front of Donnie, not about to let some other oversized creature take his little brother too.

However, when the dust cleared, their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and Raph nearly dropped both his Sais. No one moved or spoke for the longest time as the two turtles looked up in utter bewilderment…and for Raph, something close to fear.

Klunk leapt down from her perch on the giant flower, padding over to the turtles and mewing up at them, encouraging them to get on the two creatures.

Donnie hid behind Raph. "…well," he chuckled nervously, "I guess Klunk brought the cavalry?"

Raph fought the urge to hurl.

* * *

**A/N: Take a wild guess at what the things are!**

**Sorry its so short! Next one will be longer!**

**Speaking of the next chapter...Mikey, what are you planning to do...?**


	8. Chapter 8: Liberty

**A/N: Sorry this took so long! Here is chapter 8!**

**And for those of you who tried to guess what the turtles would be riding...read and see if you were right!**

**I OWN NOTHING!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Liberty **

4:00 am.

It was now four in the morning, and Michelangelo felt like he was in hell.

His curled up body was hot to the touch, his breathing was harsh and laboured, his vision blurred and brimmed with tears of pain, and the dark veins across his body burned endlessly. He continued to toss and turn in his restlessness, longing for sleep, but he knew if he let himself sink into slumber again, he would be greeted with hellish nightmares, filled with screaming, blood, and so much death.

And every single one of those deaths were twisted versions of his own.

He would have to fight his way back to waking, or wait for either his saviours, Casey, April or his father Master Splinter to come rushing in at the sounds of his terrified screams and wake him up. And he wouldn't have to wait long, for every two hours, one of them would always be there by his side, making sure he was at least comfortable. Right now, it was Casey's turn to look out for him as he sat on a stool next to his bed, looking down at the ailing orange clad turtle with an expression that was written with sadness and regret.

Casey Jones felt completely and utterly useless. April was on the verge of breaking down, Leo, Donnie and Raph hadn't even called to say where they were and if they were coming back, and here he was, just sitting here. What could he possibly do? How could he ease Mikey's pain, end his suffering? In fact, it had all but doubled a few hours ago.

Out of nowhere, those freaky black veins had practically doubled in size, spreading farther across his body in the blink of an eye.

He and April had panicked, thinking that it was something that they had done wrong to trigger the poison, but after Splinter had come in and eased Mikey as best as he could, he had explained that they had done nothing of the sort, but he had known for a fact that the process of the poison had sped up in that instant. That did nothing to ease their fears, of course, but they had to keep it together until the other turtles returned with the cure. He hoped they were okay. They had been gone for hours…

In a way, Casey really _was_ helping, in some sense or another. He was keeping Mikey company and comfort, and giving April reassurance, making sure she had her head screwed on, and that she stayed strong. Normally, that would be Donnie or Mikey's job, and on some occasions even Raph or Leo's…but of course none of them were here for that now. So that role was left to Casey.

Casey sighed softly. Is this how it was when someone was visiting their friend or loved one whilst they were in a coma, or simply sitting next to their death bed waiting for the inevitable? Casey had been through something similar to that before, only he was thankful that she had been awake. He could at least talk to her.

Maybe he was doing the same thing for Mikey that he had done for her. Just staying with them. That was enough, right?

"…C-Casey?"

Casey blinked in surprise at the sound of Mikey's weak voice, and he turned down to look at the sick turtle, who stared up at him through pale blue eyes. Casey offered him a smile as he came off his stool and knelt down beside him, bringing up a hand to carefully rub his shoulder, as he would usually do with his little sister whenever she was sick. "Hey, Mikey," he greeted kindly, "you okay little buddy?"

Predictably, Mikey shook his head. Casey sighed. Of _course_ he wasn't okay. Why would he expect anything to be different? "Do you want me to get you something? Anything?" he asked softly, hoping he would say yes. He hadn't eaten or drank anything since yesterday, and it was starting to really worry them all. He had to at least drink something, just to keep his body hydrated.

Mikey looked to the side in thought for a moment, his bleak eyes staring down at his nunchaku placed neatly side by side next to Casey's stool, before looking back at Casey and managing a weak smile. "…some water would be awesome," he finally said softly.

Glad that Mikey was finally going to eat or drink something again, Casey smiled back again and nodded. "Got it. I'll be right back," he said, giving Mikey's shoulder one last pat as he stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him as he made his way to the kitchen.

That was when it happened.

**_"What are you waiting for?"_**

Mikey jumped slightly in fear as the sound of a sudden voice filled the room from out of nowhere. Who was that? Where was it coming from? Was it the dark cloaked man that haunted him in his nightmares? Was he actually _real_? Had he come to finally kill him?

No…that voice wasn't nearly as deep or foreboding as that dark hooded man's. And it wasn't Sir Malachi either. But it was after several seconds that Mikey realized with wide, terrified eyes that the voice was…

_His._

**_"That's right, Michelangelo,"_** his voice taunted with unhidden smugness, **_"I'm you. Well, I'm your darker side, that is. And yeah, you actually have one, you goody-three-toed _****_freak_****_. _****Everybody ****_has one."_**

Confused and utterly afraid, Mikey drew in on himself as he lay on his bed. "W-What do you want?" he stuttered, his voice cracking slightly.

The voice smirked coldly. **_"Oh, come on. You're stupid, but you're not _****that ****_stupid. I know what you were thinking. I know you were looking at you Nunchucks before, but that freckled dweeb didn't notice. You wanna end it, don't you? You wanna be free? Free from the pain, the suffering…from your _****family****_?"_**

Despite his state, Mikey managed to let out a snarl. "S-Shut up! Y-you don't know what you're t-talking about! I would n-never leave them!" he growled to his invisible offender.

**_"Hmph. Maybe not. But your brothers sure did."_**

It was then that Mikey hesitated, his face forming a thoughtful frown at those words. His brothers hadn't come back from their mission yet? Why not? What was taking them so long? Surely they would have come back by now with a cure for this freaky poison…unless they had run into some trouble like the Kraang or the Foot Clan…

…or what if they…?

**_"Yeah, that's right, Mikey. They left you. They're waiting it out, waiting for you to die. They only said that they were going for a cure just to make your Sensei and your human friends believe they really cared, but you and I both know that they don't. By the time they decide to come back, you'll already be dead. They'll act like they're sorry and all that crap, but as soon as they get the chance, they'll dump your body in a storm drain and celebrate having finally gotten rid of you. Won't that be something?"_**

Tears stung the back of his eyes as Mikey squeezed them shut, nearly retreating into his shell as he choked back sobs. "N-No! You're _wrong!" _he protested, "They're my brothers! W-we're family! They'd _n-never_ do that to me!"

"**_How do you know? Haven't you noticed that every time you do something for them, like say, save their lives countless times, they don't even spare you a second glance? They don't even say 'thank you'? Did April ever thank you? Or Casey? Or how about your so-called 'father'? You know he loves his long-lost daughter more than he loves you. You know he'd replace you with her the first chance he gets –"_**

_"SHUT UP!" _Mikey screamed, covering his ears and burying his tear stained face into his pillow, "Shutupshutupshutup _SHUT UP! _You're lying! H-he loves me! He loves all of us the same! And I don't need them to thank me, because I know they appreciate me! I –"

**_"Oh shut up, you _****_know_****_ they don't! Why do you think Casey hasn't come back yet? And with your stupid screaming, what do you think is taking them so long to come and 'reassure' you? Why must you continue to cling onto false hope and waste away for no reason? They've given up on you, Michelangelo. They don't _****care****_. Why don't you do all of them and yourself a favour and just end it all right now?"_**

_"NO!"_

It was getting harder and harder for Mikey to keep going like this. The more that voice talked to him, the harder it was for him to keep denying, to not believe what he was saying.

Did they really hate him that much? Would Splinter actually replace him if he ever got the chance…?

No, of course not! Splinter loved them all! He would _never _do that to him, or any of them! As for his brothers, April and Casey, the fact that they had stayed by his side the whole time was proof enough that they cared.

They _had _to…right?

**_"Do I see doubt there, Mikey?" _**the voice mocked, **_"I thought so. I have to admit, you're pretty stubborn, I'll give you that much. But you know you're losing this battle. And besides, you don't have much longer left to live anyways. The pain won't stop. The nightmares won't end. Not until you pick up your Nunchucks…flip the blade out…and just end it _****_yourself_****_."_**

…Mikey couldn't deny it anymore.

That voice was right about one thing. He was still in so much pain, and it wasn't going away. And besides, there was no way that his brothers were going to make it back in time to save him now. And he didn't want to be a burden to his father or friends anymore. He had seen the state that April was in before she and Casey swapped places; she was breaking down. She couldn't take it. He couldn't put her through that, or any of them for that matter.

It would be better off if he just died right now, instead of making them watch him like this.

**_"Yeah. That's right. You're doing this for them. They'll understand."_**

Numbly, Mikey nodded his head. His eyes were flat and bleak now as he reached down, wincing slightly from the pain, pale green fingers brushing against his nunchaku until he reached farther, finally grasping one of them. With a trembling hand, Mikey flipped out the kusarigama blade. He could see his reflection on the polished surface. His expression was flat, but he could see the fear in his eyes.

Was he really going to do this? Was this the right thing?

**_"There's no point in being afraid. There's no point in stalling. You and I both know you're going to do it, so just get it over with already…"_**

"…okay then," Mikey said, and ever so slowly, he brought the blade up higher, the edge just touching his throat.

This was it. In a matter of seconds, it would all be over…

All…over…

"Sorry I took so long, Mikey," said Casey as he finally entered the room with a glass of water in his hands, "April wanted to ask me some –"

Casey's eyes widened. His body froze on the spot, and the glass slipped through numb fingers and shattered on the ground, spilling water all over the floor. No. No, he couldn't be seeing this. This wasn't happening. This wasn't…

In a matter of seconds, Casey flew across the room.

"**_MIKEY NO!"_**

* * *

Now, Leonardo had very little things to fear about.

Whilst Mikey had a fear of the dark and Squirrelanoids, and Raph had a fear of cockroaches, and Donnie had the fear of rejection, Leo only really had a fear of heights, ever since he was he was little. Over time, Master Splinter had helped him overcome it to the point where it no longer bothered him that much anymore. However now, as he was being carried away, trapped in the claws of a mighty giant owl creature, that fear meant absolutely nothing compared to this.

This was just _insanity_.

Birds didn't even _eat _turtles! And why _him?!_

Leo continued to struggle in the owl's grip, bashing his fist against it as hard as he could, though he knew it was futile. "Stupid bird!" he growled, "I'm not owl food! Let me **_go_**!"

But of course the owl took no heed of the turtles' cries as it flew higher and higher into the treetops, not stopping until it reached a part of a tree trunk with a large dark hole had been carved into it. From what Leo could see in the darkness, it was filled with leaves, twigs, grass and…were those _skeletons?! _

He was then thrown unceremoniously inside the hole, tumbling forwards until he hit the back of the tree, hard. Quickly, despite his disorientation, he got himself to his feet just as the owl settled inside and began to loom over him, its massive size, glowing eyes and feathered body making the creature look as deadly and foreboding as any mutant he had come across to this day. But he refused to let it see his fear as he narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth together, reaching behind him for his Katanas…only to remember that he had dropped them when he was taken. He let out a frustrated growl. What a great time to lose his weapons.

However, just as Master Splinter said, a ninja is never defenceless.

Instead, he quickly pulled out a tanto blade from his right wrist wrap as he faced the bird, his blue eyes narrowing.

He had no idea if he was going to survive this, but if he was going down, he wouldn't go without putting up a fight.

The owl screeched at him before charging him, craning its neck so that it was low enough to take a bite out of him, but Leo managed to flip over him, landing on top of his head and running down the length of his back until he reached the tail feathers, where he somersaulted off and rolled along the uneven ground, picking up what remained of an acorn head.

He could use that as a shield. Perfect!

The owl swerved around, angry that his prey was trying to get away from him, and he charged again, pecking hard at the acorn shield in an attempt to break it as Leo brought it up to block its attack. Using his short blade, Leo took a swipe across the bird's left eye. It reared backwards and screeched in agony as blood trickled down from the wound, giving Leonardo enough time to run and duck behind a pile of leaves on the other side of the nest.

He kept very still as the owl began to search for him, barely breathing. He had to get out of here somehow. But if he tried climbing out, the owl would just come back for him and finish him off before he could even get halfway. And jumping out wasn't an option either, unless he wanted to kill himself.

It seemed that the blue clad turtle had nowhere to go.

And as if matters couldn't get any worse, the owl suddenly rotated its head all the way around slowly, and Leo could stifle the gasp as it spotted him, screeching in triumph at having finally found its prey.

Oh great. Some ninja he was.

Leo cursed mentally himself. This was looking really bad. Even he couldn't take down a giant owl, at least not by himself, and certainly not with a tanto blade and an acorn. And as the owl tore away the shelter of the leaves and used its large, powerful wing to knock him off his feet and lose his grip on the acorn shell as it rolled out of the nest, Leo couldn't help but think…

_I'm gonna die..._

_"HEY, BIRD BREATH!"_

Bothe the owl and Leonardo spun around towards the mouth of the nest, and Leo felt his jaw drop at the sight of his two younger brothers, Raphael and Donatello with the ginger cat Klunk perched on Donnie's shoulder, hovering right in front of the nest on the backs of horse-sized…

_Cockroaches_?

Well, that explained why Raph looked as if he were about to throw up on the spot, but he kept his face flat (though it looked a lot greener than usual). But wait, cockroaches couldn't fly, could they? Well, then again, this is Oz. Nothing really makes sense here.

Donnie was standing straight on top of his cockroaches' back, which oddly enough had his katana blades held firmly in its pinchers, and he spun his Bo staff as he grinned at Leo triumphantly. "Hey, Leo! The cavalry has arrived to rescue you!" he announced proudly.

Despite how happy he was to see that his brothers were alive and seemingly unharmed, Leo's expression was completely flat with something similar to disgust as he stared at them. Heck, even the _owl_ looked at them as if this was just about the stupidest thing he had ever seen. Pinching the space between his brows, Leo sighed. "Um…guys, it's great to see you, really it is, but um…"

Then he lifted his head and bellowed, "HOW THE HECK ARE YOU GONNA DEFEAT A GIANT BIRD WITH TWO FREAKING _COCKROACHES_?!"

Donnie remained undeterred however, still smiling. "What? We only used these guys to get us up here," he said, reaching down and patting the cockroach fondly, "But don't worry, we brought back up!" Turning to Raph, who looked as if he had calmed down a little bit, he nodded and grinned. "Raph, do your thing, bro!"

Swallowing thickly, Raph nodded. He then turned and whistled a tune (one that Leo noticed made his cheeks go red with embarrassment) and within moments, the two of them were surrounded by an army of large, elephant sized pigeons. Leo's eyes grew widened the size of dinner plates, and then he ducked down low as they began flocking one by one inside the nest, filling the tight space with a mangle of feathers and screeches as they attacked the owl, who fought and squawked back in anger and resistance.

Despite the confusion, Leo's face broke out into a grin, and then he turned back to his two brothers sat on the cockroaches. "Okay," he said with a shrug, "That's pretty cool."

Donnie beamed as he held out his hand. "Told you!" he laughed as Leo grabbed his hand, and he pulled Leo onto the back of his cockroach. Klunk mewed happily as she jumped onto Leo's shoulder, purring as she rubbed her head against his cheek, happy to see him again and glad that the plan had actually worked. She knew that the owl had been sent by Bishop, and so was very surprised when Donatello and Raphael's plan to gather an army of pigeons proved effective against the bird of prey.

At the sight of the cat purring against Leo, Donnie smiled again. "Well, let's get the heck outta here before the owl gets free!" he announced, and with a tug of the antennas, the cockroach turned and flew off in the direction they had come from, with Raph closely following behind. Leo noticed that he quickly sent the pigeons a thumbs up before turning back to 'drive' the giant insect.

As Leo wrapped his arms around Donnie's middle to steady himself, he asked the purple clad turtle, "Hey, Donnie? How did you guys find these cockroaches? And better yet, where did all those pigeons come from?"

Donnie turned to him and handed him his Katanas, smiling as his older brother slid them back into place. "Well, believe it or not, it was Klunk that brought them up using her psychic powers. And normally, cockroaches can't really fly, so she somehow granted them temporary flying capabilities so that we could ride them and find the owl's nest. And as for the pigeons…" he chuckled as he stole a glance at Raph, "well, Mikey didn't call him the 'Pigeon Lord Raphael' for nothing!"

Behind them, Raph growled, his cheek turning very crimson. "Hey, shut up!" he barked, "we got Leo out, didn't we?! So it wasn't _that_ stupid!"

Leo rolled his eyes with a grin. "Yeah, Raph. It was a pretty good idea. And…thanks, guys," he said warmly, "Really. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Raph's embarrassment faded, and was replaced by surprise, before morphing into his signature grin as he saluted him. "Anytime, buddy," he replied. Though it wasn't very noticeable outwardly, Raph was far too relieved to see that his big brother was alright. He feared they would have been too late, but when they saw him trying to fight it off with only his tanto blade and an acorn shell for weapons, they both smiled. They knew their fearless leader wouldn't go down without fighting back.

That was just who Leo was.

As they flew through the dark forests in search for the red road, Donnie's cockroach began to tilt on its side slightly. Confused, Leo and Donnie shared a look. "Um, Don? What's happening?" Leo asked, not liking the way the roach began to tip downwards.

Donnie's eyes widened in realization as behind him, Raph's roach was starting to do the same thing. "Uh oh…" he whimpered with dread.

"Uh oh? Why're you saying uh oh?" Raph barked. He hated it whenever Donnie of all people, said 'uh oh'. It only ever meant disaster was upon them.

Donnie gulped. "W-well…remember how I told you that Klunk gave them _temporary _flying abilities? Well, it looks like her powers' ran out…"

Leo and Raph's eyes widened. "You've gotta be _kidding_ me," Raph stuttered.

And it was only a matter of seconds before both roaches finally ran out of power, and the three turtles screamed as they spiralled back down to earth.

Maybe using cockroaches really was, as Raph had put it earlier, a really dumbass idea.

* * *

"**_MIKEY NO!"_**

Casey practically tore the blade out of Mikey's hands before it could even nick his skin, not caring if he cut himself as he threw the blade across the room and well out of reach. Panting with terror, Casey gripped Mikey's shoulders and shook him as hard as he dared due to his illness, "What the hell do you think you're _doing_, man?!" Casey cried.

Mikey stared up at Casey with baby blue eyes wide with as much confusion and fear as the human boy's. What _did _he think he was doing? Was he really about to kill himself? He didn't' remember picking up the weapon, or flicking out the blade. All he remembered was that there was a voice…a voice that sounded a lot like his own, telling him that he was useless…and that he would be better off dead…

"…I…I don't…" Mikey struggled to say as tears began to spill down his cheeks, dampening his mask as they dripped off his chin, "…I don't know…I thought…I thought you'd be better off…I just wanted…"

Casey gasped softly. Was he really hurting _that much_? Did he think that killing himself would make everything go away? Did he really believe that, for even a _second_, that his family would be glad that he was gone? How could he?! Mikey knew how much they cared about him. It was as plain as daylight that he was loved and appreciated by every single one of them. Of course they made fun of him, pranked him and teased him sometimes, but he did the same, because that's what families do…

They were a family…

Casey was never really that great with words. Like Raph, he would be physically demonstrative when the situation called for it. So it was within seconds that he pulled Mikey to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around the younger turtle, putting as much strength and love into it as he could without hurting him.

Mikey didn't need words. Right now, this was what he needed. And Casey was fully prepared to give him just that.

As for the orange clad turtle, he didn't hesitate to return the embrace as he cried into Casey's chest, soaking his jacket with hot tears, but the boy didn't care in the slightest as he brought up a hand and gently stroked the back of his head soothingly. "…it's okay, Mikey," he said softly, "we're gonna help you make it through this. I promise. Don't do that to me again, little bro. Alright?" He felt the turtle nod his head against his chest as he continued to cry, and Casey simply allowed him.

The boy allowed a few tears to escape his eyes as well as he squeezed them shut.

He just wish he could have done the same for his mother all those years ago, but he was just thankful, so very thankful, that he had made it in time to save their little brother.

* * *

**A/N: That was too close.**

**What happens to the boys next? Keep reading to find out!**


	9. Chapter 9: Chishiki

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait on this! I've been distracted!**

**I OWN NOTHING! And see if you can guess who Bishop sends out!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Chishiki **

"...Donnie...?"

"...yes, Raphael?"

"...remember how I told you that taking the roaches was a bad idea?"

"I swear to god if you dare tell me that you 'told me so', so help me I will feed you to the biggest freaking spider I can find and watch you scream as it devours you whole."

"…Just sayin'."

"_Enough_, you two," Leonardo sighed heavily in annoyance, grunting as he struggled to sit himself upright in the tangle of grass, vines and cockroach bodies and dusting off the grass and mud off his shoulders and legs. When the roaches had lost their powers of flight after Klunk's magic wore off, they'd spiralled out of control and landed badly into a patch of oversized mushrooms, which had effectively cushioned their fall, but not enough to keep them from skidding across the floor. Luckily their passengers hadn't been too badly harmed, but that was more than they could say for the roaches themselves.

They didn't get up again, nor did they move another inch. Leo couldn't help but feel bad; they could have died in order to protect them. And he thought they were supposed to be resilient.

Perhaps that was also different in this world; creatures were far more fragile than he thought.

Turning around to make sure his brothers were unharmed, which they weren't for the most part apart from several bruises from the fall, he stood up and stretched some feeling back into his aching limbs. He then extended a hand to Raphael to help him up as well, who after groaning in both pain and annoyance from everything in general, he took his brothers' hand and allowed himself to be hauled back onto his feet, dusting himself off and grumbling. Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" he asked.

Raph folded his arms over his chest, pouting sourly. "Well, apart from the fact that I had to ride a roach, _fly_ a roach and then proceed to _crash land _in the middle of a _shroom patch_ with a roach…" he strained a sarcastic smile as he turned to his older brother. "…Just peachy."

Leo snickered and shook his head, patting Raph's shoulder reassuringly. "I agree. Come on, we've gotta get Klunk and Donnie and get going," he said. Out of reassurance to both himself and possibly to Raph (since they were both still slightly shaken up from the owl incident and the crash landing), Leo reached out behind him as he walked and took Raph's hand; the ground had become oddly slippery after the fall (and Leo _really_ didn't want to find out if it was actually roach slime they were walking through) and he didn't want to risk both of them slipping and hurting themselves again.

And if Leo noticed how Raph continued to hold onto his hand and glance in disgust at the giant roaches behind them, he didn't say anything about it, but instead only smiled to himself.

Shaking her body this way and that to clear the dizziness and roach muck off her furry body, Klunk hopped onto Donnie's chest from where he lay flat on his back next to the motionless body of his roach, and after mewing to catch his attention, she licked him on the cheek, as if she were trying to heal the bruise on his face. Despite the mood he was in now, Donnie allowed himself to smile as he reached up and stroked the back of the cat's head. He wasn't as much of a cat person as Mikey was, but that didn't mean he didn't like the affectionate gestures.

Mikey…

Donnie frowned sadly. Mikey was probably in so much pain right now...they had to hurry up and get back before they lost him forever. And that meant getting off his shell right now.

Grunting with effort, he sat himself up as Klunk skittered onto his shoulder instead of his chest. He made a face as he realized they were all sitting in slime, and he shivered in disgust. He attempted to stand up on his own, but of course he slipped right back onto his shell again. He sighed dejectedly. This was just another typical bad day for tech guru Donatello.

Just as he was about to try again, a large green hand entered his vision, and he looked up to find that Leo was standing over him with his hand outstretched. Behind him, Raph was looking off to the side with one hand on his hip, the other hand firmly holding onto Leo's hand. He was pouting in embarrassment from the gesture that suggested he was unnerved, but he didn't let go despite that, not whilst being surrounded by cockroach bits.

Leo smiled down encouragingly at his brother still sat in the muck. "For the record, Donnie," Leo began as Donnie took his hand and allowed himself to be hauled off the slimy ground, and Leo put a hand on his shoulder, "I thought it was a great idea. If it weren't for those flying roaches and Klunk, you wouldn't have been able to get me out of there in one piece. So…thanks."

Leo's eyes slid over to Raph, and he gave his hand a squeeze. When Raph hissed in pain, he snapped his angry eyes to his older brother, only to find that he was giving him 'the look'. Raph rolled his eyes skyward. "Yeah," he finally admitted with a sigh, still refusing to look at them. "It wasn't _that_ bad…I guess."

After a moment, Donnie allowed himself to smile at both his brothers, lifting his hand to cover the one Leo had on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Thanks guys," he said, "Though, yeah, it could've gone a whole lot smoother than…_this_, I guess it's like what Splinter always says; it's all about how we react to the unexpected that counts."

Eyes widening in surprise for a moment, Leo couldn't fight the proud grin that spread across his face as he pulled both his younger brothers into a hug, which they immediately returned with just as much force. "Yeah…you're right about that, Donnie," he said softly. Klunk mewed happily as she retook her place on Leo's shoulder once again, and Leo let out a chuckle as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Leo was beyond relieved that they'd come for him in the nick of time, but then again, what did he expect? They were his brothers, and they stuck together no matter what.

And they were not about to leave Mikey behind either, not when he needed them all more than ever.

Something dripped on the top of Leo's head. Frowning in confusion, he looked up at the dark skies and the oversized trees above to find the source of whatever that was (praying that it wasn't the saliva of another animal out to get them or something). He found his answer as another droplet of water landed on his face. Donnie and Raph looked up as well, just as more droplets began to fall. They nearly jumped at the sound of thunder rumbling low in the distance, and Klunk's fur stood up on end in apprehension.

"You've _gotta_ be kidding," Raph droned with a very flat expression.

And then within minutes, rain began to hammer down full force upon the three turtles and the ginger cat, and with combined yelps of surprise from a sudden flash of lightning, they all quickly scuffled underneath one of the larger mushrooms for shelter, just as a loud bang of thunder rang almost painfully in their ears. They huddled close together, with Leo in the middle wrapping his arms around Donnie and Raph's shoulders in an almost protective embrace. Klunk nestled herself on Leo's lap, her ginger furred body curled up into a furry ball as she attempted to keep herself warm and dry from the rain. Luckily enough for the four of them, the giant mushroom provided enough shelter to keep them dry. Keeping them warm, however, not so much. But their combined body heat would probably be enough to ward away the chill of the rain…or at least they _hoped _it did, being cold blooded and all.

Raph let out a loud, frustrated groan as he glared daggers out into the rain. "Well, that's just _great_," he scowled, "Now what do we do?"

Leo sighed, holding Raph and Donnie just that little bit closer out of old habit. When they were little, whenever there was a bad storm or the power in the lair went out, the four brothers would always huddle together in a protective circle, with Leo being the one to hold his little brothers close until their sensei came to them and took over. Nowadays, it was only ever Mikey who was afraid of the storms, so Leo would end up serving as a pillar of strength for his youngest brother…and on very rare occasions, Raph and Donnie would join in. "Well, there's no point in going anywhere right now," Leo replied, "so we're just gonna have to get as much rest as we can now, and then go look for the Red Brick Road in the morning. It's been a long day anyways."

Raph rolled his eyes, but made no further comment on the matter as he leaned in closer to Leo's left side, his green eyes now glaring down at the floor. This was ridiculous. They should be out there, finding the Emerald City, and then finding the creep that was torturing Mikey, not sitting under a stupid mushroom! Mikey was counting on them! They didn't have time to waste…

…Mikey needed them…

Leo's eyes slid over to Raph. He could see the torment raging in his eyes; he hated this just as much as Leo and Donnie did. Leo knew very well that they had little time before the poison inside Mikey overwhelmed him, but if they went out into the rain and got even more lost, it wouldn't do any of them any good. It would only make things worse. Raph must have understood that, but it didn't bother him any less. Letting out a breath through his nose, Leo brought Raph closer to his side, resting his head against his younger brothers', even going so far as to give him a little nuzzle of affection, something they hadn't done since they were small. Raph didn't protest or shove him off, but instead he leaned in closer as well.

Neither of them said a word to each other, but the red clad turtle knew that his older brother understood. With a ghost of a smile, Raph finally closed his eyes and let sleep overcome him at long last.

After looking down at Raph to make sure he was asleep, the older turtle then slid his eyes over to Donatello, whose eyes were closed as he leaned heavily on Leo's right shoulder, but Leo didn't mind in the least as he smiled down at his sleeping younger brother. The poor guy was exhausted; from trying to think of a cure for Mikey, to then coming to a world where nothing made sense, and then having to form a plan to rescue Leonardo had taken its toll on the young genius. Letting out a small chuckle as Donnie began to mumble something to do with 'science-y stuff', he pulled Donnie closer and affectionately rubbed his thumb across his shoulder, before letting out a small yawn as he too closed his eyes.

He knew that no giant owls or any other oversized creatures would be coming near them again, not as long as he had his brilliant minded and strong hot-headed brothers to fight by his side.

However, unbeknownst to all of them as they slept underneath the shelter of the friendly mushroom, Klunk had opened her eyes, and she looked serenely at the purple clad turtle. Careful not to wake up Leonardo, she padded her way onto Donatello's lap, and stretched her paw up to rest it on his shoulder. As her eyes began to glow a florescent blue, a small glowing purple symbol appeared on Donnie's shoulders, as if an invisible hand was writing the Japanese character with a brush of their gentle finger. When Klunk's deed was done and the purple spark ceased, the bold symbol remained.

_Chishiki._

_Knowledge. _

* * *

Lord Bishop was never usually the one to be surprised.

Normally, everything he conducted, every plan he constructed within the walls of his chambers or simply inside his highly sophisticated 'mind palace' of sorts, was always executed with precision and perfection. No errors were to occur, nothing was needed to be recreated, and nothing was ever improvised or unforeseen. There was no need whatsoever for unnecessary surprises.

However, despite all his careful planning, all his calculations, he found himself surprised when the three new turtles suddenly arrived. That hadn't been his doing, unlike what had happened to Michelangelo the first time, nor had it been at all a part of his plan.

And later on, when after Malachi had sped up the production of the poison in the child's system, he had gone into his personal chambers and had conducted his own spell, one that would cause the boy to believe that he was hallucinating, hearing the sound of his own voice talking to him, ridiculing and provoking him to kill himself. He had found himself surprised a second time when he witnessed Michelangelo's willpower, but he had quickly overpowered that. It was only when that human boy, Casey Jones he recalled, interrupted him and cut off his connection to the turtle that he found himself irked.

And now, he had once again found that he was both surprised and very much irritated that the other three turtle aberrations had succeeded in defeating and escaping his owl creature, he was sure that he would have been able to destroy them, but he hadn't counted on the…flying _roaches_ and the pigeons.

The purple turtle seemed smarter than Bishop had thought.

Bishop hardly ever lost his temper, keeping his collected mask on at all times, for emotion was no more than a weakness, a hindrance that only the lowly likes of mortals succumbed to, and in most cases, even immortals. But he knew better than those fools who dared called themselves the rulers of this land. However, seeing as things were not going according to his plans, Bishop quickly found that his patience was wearing very thin.

It seemed that certain measures were going to have to take place if he were ever going to succeed.

Bishop strode down the long hallways of his mountain complex, turning sharp corners as he weaved through his personal maze, until he reached his private chambers. In the centre of the room, a red crystal ball stood on a pedestal, and upon sensing its master's presence, it began to glow hellish crimson. Bishop approached the crystal slowly, and upon reaching it and laying his black gloved hand over its surface, he closed his eyes and muttered a low incantation that set the crystal off, glowing brighter as an image appeared before him. He opened his eyes, folding his hands behind his back again as he stared up at what the crystal had presented him with. The image had morphed into a creature that was neither man nor beast, but Bishop feared it not. Instead, he remained indifferent as he spoke to the creature. "Report to me on what goes on in the Emerald City," he ordered.

The best nodded. "Everything is going accordingly, Dark Mystic. The two witches have returned with their mates in order to protect the city, putting up a barrier around its entire perimeter. The Night Watchers have gone out to patrol the forests and cities in search for you and your Stone Soldiers. None of them know your true whereabouts as of yet, my lord."

Bishop nodded, a wicked grin spreading across his features. "Excellent. And what of those three turtles? Have they reached the city yet?"

"No, master. They are nowhere in sight. But scouts have told The Great and Powerful that they have taken The Red Brick Road. The fools should be dead before they can reach the gates."

Shaking his head, Bishop frowned as he put a finger to his chin in thought. "No, that's what I thought. But they've proven to be stronger and smarter than we anticipated. But then again, they _are _the counterparts of the ones who destroyed The Warlock of the West, so I shouldn't have expected anything different. At this rate, they will reach the gates before I have time to create enough Stone Soldiers to defeat them…"

Bishop became silent as his brow creased in thought. How was he going to at least hold them off until he could expand his army? He had prisoners that had once served under Shredder's command that he could send out, but they would prove to be less than a challenge against the ninjas…

…unless…

And idea finally formed, and his conceited smile returned as he turned back to the creature. "Send out an order to the Stone Soldiers in the Winter Forest, and tell them to launch an attack on the village. It's about time I conquered that city as well," he said with a dark chuckle. "I'll be sending out a personal general out there to keep them organized, seeing as those lumps of rock can't function without a proper leader. That should attract the turtles' attention and at least keep them busy for a little while. In the meantime, continue to lay low. And keep a close eye on those witches; they'll become useful later on, I'm sure."

The creature bowed. "As you command, Dark Mystic."

Bishop nodded. "Good. Carry on, soldier." And with that, the crystal went dark and the image of the beast disappeared. Bishop turned and strode out the door, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he made his way back to the prison blocks, where he knew a potential general and worthy adversary to those wretched turtles would be held, just waiting to see what his master had in store for them.

And what a pleasant surprise Bishop had for the canine.

* * *

Since he and his family lived down in the sewers all their lives, they were used to waking up without the aid of light shining through a window, and instead relied on alarm clocks to get them up bright and early in preparation for their training. This time however, Donatello found himself nearly blinded by sunlight as he blinked himself awake, shielding his eyes with his hand as he squinted in the light. Once his eyes adjusted to the gleam, he remembered where he was and sighed lightly.

"So…it's all real," he murmured to himself, letting out a yawn as he stretched his arms outwards. He looked to the side to find that Leo and Raph were still fast asleep, with Klunk purring softly on Leo's lap, leaning on each other as they gently snored. Donnie smiled at the two of them. It was usually Donnie that woke up first every day, (either him or Leo), so he didn't expect them to wake up anytime soon. Deciding to leave them be for now, Donnie stood up and stretched his sore back (which was when he discovered that he still had his Bo staff strapped to his shell) and he decided he would get an early start and find the Red Brick Road himself before his brothers woke up. Sure, it was slightly stupid, since there was a 99% chance that he would get lost, but he couldn't just sit there and wait for the others to wake up.

The only reason besides being nice that Donnie refused to wake them up was because the two of them had a nasty habit of throwing punches at who they think is an enemy in their sleep. Donnie shook his head and sighed. It only showed just how much their war against the Kraang and the Foot had affected them after all this time.

Walking slowly out of the mushroom patch and into the oversized forest, Donnie took the time to get a good look at his surroundings as he tread through the long grass that reached his chest, and he smiled lightly at the sights and sounds around him. If you took away the oversized raging beasts that would probably want to eat you, this place really was beautiful. Donatello hadn't had the time to really marvel at the magnificence of this strange haven, due to having to rescue his brother from a man-eating giant owl, but now that he was alone –

He heard something shuffling in the bushes nearby, and in an instant his staff was in his hands and his eyes were narrowed as he spun around. Nothing else moved as he glared about him, but he remained on his guard. "…Leo?" he called cautiously. "…Raph? If you guys are playing a prank on me, it's not funny," he growled, before relaxing his stance and continuing on his way.

He must have travelled quite a distance, for when he broke through a thick wall of bushes, he found himself faced with…

_Snow?_

Donnie's eyes grew very wide as he gazed upon a vast, white landscape. The trees were their normal sizes, but they were all, as well as the ground, covered in a thick layer of snow that crunched beneath his large feet as he walked, and felt like needles against his skin. Shivering from the sudden harsh chill, Donnie hugged himself and rubbed the goose-bumps off his arms as he stared at the beautiful winter wonderland. How was this possible? The forest behind him was warm and inviting, yet as soon as he broke through the bushes, it was almost as if he had just stepped into another world…

He huffed out a laugh. This place was just like Narnia.

As his eyes skimmed he landscape, he noticed something in the distance that stuck out like a sore thumb, travelling far off into the forests beyond, and his eyes went wide. The Red Brick Road! He found it!

"Alright! I found it!" he cheered, pumping his fist in the air, "Woohoo! All hail me! Now, I just gotta get back to Leo and Raph and…wait, what's that?"

Something was out there, moving slowly in the thick blanket of ice. Taking a few steps forward despite the slight pain as the snow bit into the soles of his feet, Donnie's eyes squinted as he tried to make out a moving figure not a few feet away from him. He could barely make it out, for whatever it was, it was just as white as the snow itself…

…apart from that dark hood and scarf…and the purple markings around its golden eyes that glared at him…and the row of sharp teeth that bared at him…the saliva dripping hungrily from it's jaws…

_Oh shoot…_

Donnie let out a high pitched scream as suddenly, the cloaked creature, covered head to toe in pure white fur with a thick bushy tail, leapt out of the snow and barked savagely as it loped towards the turtle on all fours. Donnie stumbled over his own feet as he tried to run, but only ended up lying face down in the snow. Quickly, he twisted himself around and unsheathed his Bo, just as the creature was about to pounce on him, and he whacked it hard across the face, sending the canine flying off to the side with a yelp of pain. Wasting no more time, Donnie scrambled to his feet and ran back into the forest, where the warmth immediately encased him and gave him to drive he needed to run faster. He looked behind him to see if the wolf was following him, and he regretted doing so as he found that it was, looking very angry at that.

"Oh crud oh crud oh **_crud_**!" Donnie cried, regretting ever coming out on his own as his chaser picked up speed, its claws digging into the earth as it grew closer. No matter how fast he was as a ninja, there was no way he could outrun a wolf…or was it a fox? Oh, who cares what it was?! It was gonna eat him! He pushed his body to go faster, leaping off fallen logs and weaving through trees to throw it off, which seemed to work after a while, and then he let out a desperate yell; "LEO! RAPH! HELP!"

And then in the distance, he heard a most blessed sound.

"Donnie? Donnie! Where are you?!"

It was Raph. He was close by. He must have woken up and noticed he was missing. Thank god!

Donnie had gained enough distance from the wolf – no, fox – no, _thing that wanted to eat him _– and so pushed onwards, a hopeful smile spreading across his face.

He could make it. He was going to make it!

But of course, fate was never kind to him, and he found himself trapped between two thick trees that had grown too close to one another, and his stupid shell wouldn't fit through. In his plight, he had stupidly assumed he would have fit through the gap, only to find that he was very much mistaken. Panicking, he struggled to at least push himself out again and find another way around, but now he was stuck tight.

Oh, this was just perfect! What a _fine_ way for his life to end!

"**_Donnie_**!"

Donnie's head snapped up in time to see is second older brother, Raphael, come bursting through the bushes with his Sais already in hand, and he spun around to find Donnie trapped between the trees. He rushed over to his struggling brother with a panic stricken expression. "Donnie! What happened?!" he cried.

"_HE'S GONNA __**EAT**__ ME_! _GET ME OUTTA HERE_!" Donnie practically screamed as his struggles became more desperate, but that only made matters worse as he became more stuck.

"Huh?" Raph barked after his hearing returned, and he looked over Donnie's shoulder to see what he was talking about. And when he saw the large, furry beast loping towards them with murderous intent, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "_YIKES!" _he cried. What was that thing? Was it a wolf or something? Well, it didn't matter to Raph as he quickly ran around Donnie and attempted to push the purple clad turtle through the tight space, but to no avail.

"Geez, Donnie!" Raph snarled as he pushed harder, but Donnie wouldn't budge an inch. "Why am I the one who always has to save your – **_AAAAAAH!"_**

Raph let out a scream as the creature finally caught up to them, pouncing off the ground with its claws and fangs bared as it prepared to tear the two turtles limb from limb.

Raph could only stand in front of Donnie and scream as imminent death approached them…

"**_GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHERS!"_**


	10. Chapter 10: A New Ally

**A/N: HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! **

**Yes, it has been a VERY _VERY _long time since I've updated, and I'm VERY sorry for that! And to Pen-Woman, I'm sorry especially!**

**But here we are again with a new chapter, and from the looks of it, a new villain too. Credit goes to Pen-Woman for the ideas! You Rock my Sister!**

**I OWN NOTHING!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: A New Ally **

In the silence of his confinement, his ears pricked up sharply on the top of his head at the sound of a lock unbolting. It rang loudly in his ears, due to the fact that he'd been surrounded by silence for weeks…or months…he couldn't tell how long he'd been locked up in here for. All he knew was that it was too long since he'd heard anything but the sound of his own breathing, the footsteps of the Stone Soldiers stomping through the hallways, or the usual sounds of the enslaved Munchkins working in the mines.

Weakly lifting up his head from where he sat, his large arms chained above his head by chains hanging from the ceiling of this dark, dank cell, his red eyes blinked rapidly as bright light from behind the door suddenly flooded the empty room. He let out a tiny yip of pain as the light hit his eyes painfully.

What was this? Was he finally dead? Had the doors of heaven opened up to him to take him away at long last?

No. Of course it wasn't.

In fact, he could very well be getting ready to die and be sent hurling into the blazing pits of hell itself by the hands of who stood at the door to his cell.

The dark, cloaked figure smirked down at him, his thin lips stretched out into a smug grin across his face at the sight of him chained helplessly to the wall, unable to sand nor even move from where he sat. Emitting a low growl from the pit of his throat, the large, dog-like creature glared up at the dark form that stood before him, his teeth bared in a threatening snarl. He refused to cower beneath his gaze like a housebroken mutt. He was stronger than that now. He was stronger than _him_, he was sure of it; he'd just been unlucky enough to get caught off guard.

Lord Bishop stepped inside the cell, his hands folded behind his back as he stared down at the large, bound canine through his glasses. His brows rose at the sight of him; he looked weaker than he remembered, and a lot thinner. Well, that's what happened when you messed with the wrong man. It had been a few months since he had captured the mutt, and then left him in here after he had refused to cooperate. In fact, Bishops' original plan for the creature had been to let the thing starve to death and then let his sorry corpse rot.

Now, however, he had _new_ plans for him. The three turtles were going to become a very big problem very soon if nothing was done to exterminate them before they reached the Great and Powerful.

Michelangelo was as good as dead; he would cause no problems in the state he was in as long as Malachi's poison remained flowing through his system uninterrupted.

But first, this certain dog would need some training.

"…It's been a while, my dog-faced friend," Bishop greeted with a smirk, which only widened when the dog's fur bristled angrily, and he let out another growl. Unfazed by the threatening action, Bishop only chuckled darkly, taking several brave steps towards him. "I think you will be pleased to know that your life-long sentence has been…lifted somewhat."

His snarl fading, the creature raised a furry brow. What? He was setting him free? No, no such thing; there was no way that he would see the light of day again…at least, not without a price. Bishop was as deceptive as a snake.

Bishop suddenly chuckled again. "Your kind thoughts flatter me, Dogpound," he said. Then he reached out a black gloved hand, itching closer and closer towards the dog, a sadistic smile spreading across his features as the swirling, dark magic flowed from his fingertips.

Dogpound's eyes widened in fear. That magic…it was so tainted. What was he planning to do to him? Was he going to kill him here and now? No, that was far too generous of Bishop to simply end his life. He had other plans, didn't he?

Oh no…he couldn't…he was going to…

"Congratulations, Dogpound," Bishop said lowly as his hand hovered just above Dogpound's snout, and Dogpound flinched backwards as his fingers almost brushed against his fur.

"…you've just been promoted to join my army."

* * *

**_"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHERS!"_**

Skidding to a stop just inches away from the two trapped turtles, the white furred creature snapped its head up in shock to find that leaping out of the bushes, was a livid third, blue clad turtle, his white eyes narrowed and his Katanas bared as he pounced upon it with a mighty rage.

The two collided and rolled along the dirt, the creature barking and snarling as it attempted to rip Leonardo's throat out, but the blue clad turtle fiercely kicked it in the stomach as it toppled off of him, letting out a yelp of pain as it landed with a thump on the ground several feet away from him. With the beast temporarily down, Leo quickly rolled back to his feet and held his twin blades before him, just as the albino canine recovered from the blow, and after snarling at him, it charged him once more with its claws extended and its razor teeth bared.

From where he stood protectively in front of Donatello, who was still stuck between the two trees, Raphael looked up and watched with a slowly growing grin as his older brother fought off the crazed beast. He heaved a sigh of relief. If there was ever a time where the hot tempered turtle was more than happy to be saved by his big brother and leader, then this would definitely be it.

After all, slight humiliation was a ton better than getting ripped to shreds.

He felt Donnie still squirming and panicking behind him, and he momentarily tore his attention away from the battle to instead pat his distressed younger brother on the shell reassuringly. "Hey, Don, calm down, buddy," he eased, glancing back quickly at the fight to make sure that Leo was holding up. "Don't worry, Donnie! Leo's got our backs, now; everything's gonna be okay!"

Straining to get at glance at whatever the heck was going on behind him, Donnie managed a shaky smile at his older brother. "Y-yeah, sure," he stuttered, before his smile dropped completely as he gave Raph a very flat look. "But I would be a _lot _calmer if I could get my stupid shell outta this _stinking tree_!" he yapped loudly. Seriously, why did all the bad things have to happen to _him_? Well, then again, Leo _did _get kidnapped by a giant Owl last night, so it seemed only fair. But still!

Raph couldn't help but smirk at Donnie's remark as he turned back to the fight, watching tensely now as the over-sized white canine circled the blue turtle. Leo glared it down with blue eyes filled with fury, readying himself for another attack.

Without warning, the dog loped after Leonardo with a loud bark, zigzagging across the grass and throwing Leo off course before pouncing on him again and sending him rolling to the ground in a tangle of green limbs and fur as it tried to clamp its jaws into his shoulder.

"Leo!" Raph cried out as they struggled in the grass, with Leo trying to push the beast off, but it clung onto him like a leech, snapping its jaws dripping with saliva at his face.

Raph was already prepared to charge in after the dog, his Sais gripped in his clenched fists as he took a step forwards, but then he stopped almost instantly. He knew that if he left Donnie unprotected, he would become the target for the dog to rip his claws into. And an _easy _target at that. Growling to himself in frustration, Raph sheathed his Sais again, and he could only stand and watch as his brother struggled beneath the dog. "Get him, Leo!" Raph encouraged, pumping his fist in the air, "Knock that mutt on his ass!"

"Yeah, get him, Leo!" Donnie cheered behind Raph, though he still couldn't really see what was going on; he just hoped that Leo was winning. He could hear a lot of growling and scratching.

Suddenly, the snarling, barking canine stopped just as its jaws hovered over Leo's jugular. Its jaws snapped closed on thin air, and it blinked once in surprise as one of its ears twitched towards the other two turtles. Still crouching on top of Leonardo, it sharply turned its head towards them, and it narrowed its eyes.

"…I beg your pardon?" it growled, raising a brow at them.

The three turtles' eyes widened as they all stared at the white dog still sat on top of Leo. Raph tilted his head to the side. "Huh? He can _talk_, now?!" he barked. "Why the heck were you barking and snarling like a wild dog if you could talk like –"

"**_HE?!_**" it yapped, its ears folding backwards as its tail bristled in anger. It stood up, stepping off of Leo's stomach as it folded its arms firmly over its chest. "First of all, I am not a _dog_, I'm a _fox! _Second, I'm not a _male_, I'm a **_female!_****"**

All jaws dropped to the dirt as they stared at her. Then their faces became red with embarrassment. The dog wasn't a dog, but a _fox_, who could speak perfect English even after acting like a savage wild beast only seconds prior to their current awkward predicament.

And it wasn't a _he, _but rather a _she, _who looked as if she were ready to start trying to tear them apart again_._

Raph swallowed. "…um…whoops," he gulped.

"_Ouch,_" Leo winced, "Sorry…"

Donnie slapped a hand over his face. "That's…pretty messed up on our part," he droned. "Still, that doesn't exclude the fact that, y'know, a couple of seconds ago she was _trying to __**eat me!**_"

And then just like that, Raph shook his head and completely forgot about the very awkward conversation, and he stomped right up to the female fox. "Wait, yeah, Donnie's right! Why should _we _be the ones apologizing?!" he snapped as he stopped just inches away from her, "_you're _the one that tried to eat Donnie and tear Leo to bits! What the heck was that about?!"

The vixen frowned deeply. "You all smelled like the turtles me and my village would usually hunt!" she retorted, "Excuse me for being –"

She suddenly stopped and blinked again. She tilted her head as she fully regarded Raph, her features creasing in confusion. "Wait a minute," she mused. "Haven't I…have I seen you before?"

As Raph helped a disorientated and baffled Leo to his feet, it was his turn to look confused as he looked back to the fox. "Huh? What are you babbling about?" he blurted, noting how Leo had vanished from his side to go and help Donnie out from between the trees at last. "I've never seen you before in my – _HEY!"_

From where he stood tugging Donnie as hard as he could in order to free him, Leo snapped his head around at his other brothers' outraged cry, and his eyes widened when he saw that he and the fox girl were nearly nose to snout as she sniffed him, inhaling his reptilian scent with her eyes closed in concentration. Leo had to bite down very hard his lip to restrain the laugh that threatened to burst from out of him at the sight of Raph, just looking _so_ uncomfortable as she sniffed him.

He could even hear Donnie restraining a smirk behind him.

His eyes widening in disgust, Raph inched away from her as much as he could, until his shell thumped against a tree trunk. "…uh…yo, what the heck do you think you're doing?!" he barked, holding up his hands, ready to violently push her away from him. This was incredibly close; he barely ever let his brothers get this close to him, for goodness sakes! And why was she _sniffing_ him?!

Finally, she opened her eyes and stared directly into Raph's harlequin pair. "Hm, that's interesting…" she hummed, taking a step back as he put a clawed finger on the side of her face, looking the red clad turtle up and down. "…you look the same, but you just _smell_ different…in fact, you _all _smell different…why –"

She was cut off when she heard two startled yelps coming from Leo and Donnie as they fell to the ground in a heap, with Donnie finally freed from his wooden prison. Raph rolled his eyes and slapped a hand over his face. Some ninjas they were.

Once Leo was able to shove Donnie off of him, he stood up and dusted himself off, extending a hand to Donnie to help him up as well as he turned back to the white fox. "Listen, we got off on the wrong foot, here," he said politely, stepping in front of a very peeved Raph. "My name's Leo, and these are my brothers, Raph and Donnie."

Nodding once to Leo, she looked over to Donnie, who was standing behind Raph with a somewhat hesitant and nervous expression. Raph kept his narrowed green eyes on her sceptically as he stood protectively in front of his younger brother, one hand reaching back for the pronged weapon in his belt just in case.

Oh yeah, she'd tried to eat him before. That made sense.

"You see," Leo began again, drawing her attention back to him, "we aren't actually from this world, believe it or not, that's your decision. We were all sent here by Sir Malachi to find the Great and Powerful in the Emerald City to –"

The fox's ears pricked up at that. "You guys are looking for the Great and Powerful?" she repeated. When Leo nodded, she regarded the three turtles all together. These three turtles were brought here by Sir Malachi himself? They were going to find the Great and Powerful?

And they'd taken the Red Brick Road instead?

She smirked once, covering her mouth by slapping her hand over it.

Raph bristled at that, folding his arms over his chest. Well, at least one of them found this situation amusing. "What the heck are you finding so funny?" he droned.

Smirking again, she shook her head as she stifled a full-blown laugh. "Um, n-nothing!" she stuttered, "It's just that…you mentioned Sir Malachi. He _did _tell you to take the _Yellow _Brick Road, right? You guys are _waaaaay _in the wrong direction!"

Leo restrained the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. "Yeah, we _know _that," he stated as he folded his arms over his chest, "but we couldn't go down that road because it was destroyed by this, Dark Mystic weirdo, and we –"

The smirk fell completely as her amber eyes widened. The humor was gone now, replaced with something very close to fear as her ears drooped, folding against the side of her head. "Wait…did you…did you say that the Dark Mystic destroyed the Yellow Brick Road?" she stammered.

That couldn't be true. He couldn't have already invaded Munchkin Land already…

At her sudden change of mood, Leo shared a look with his brothers. They could only shrug in response. Leo turned back to the startled fox, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Um…yes. The entire village was destroyed along with the Yellow Brick Road," he answered, his eyes downcast as he recalled the destruction that they'd witnessed when Kirby Bat had dropped them there. The thought of millions of helpless people, all dragged from their homes and families, or even killed, all for the sake of one man to get what he wants.

People like that sickened him to the very core.

The fox let out a shaking breath, unable to support herself any longer as she fell to her knees, one clawed hand brought up to cover her mouth. It couldn't be…Munchkin Land was laid to waste as well? But how? Why so quickly? And why hadn't they sent her village a message?

The Invasion was spreading faster than they had anticipated. And it wouldn't be long before her village was also destroyed, and her people taken as slaves or slaughtered…

She felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder, and she snapped out of her trance as she looked up into the serene, blue eyes of Leonardo. His gaze was full of sympathy, and yet they were also tainted with concern and confusion. She nodded to him once. "I'm…I'm okay," she managed to say. "I'm just…trying to make sense of this…"

Behind them, Raph scoffed. "Aren't we all?" he mumbled. Donnie nudged him and shook his head, and Leo sent him a look. But it was true, to a point; none of them could understand what was going on…

It was then that the smartest turtle noticed something. One member of their group had gone missing, and during this cat and dog (or rather turtle and fox) melee, they must have completely forgotten about her. "Um, guys?" he piped up, "Where did Klunk go?"

Leo and Raph shared a startled look. The ginger cat was gone? But she was possibly their only lead to getting to the Emerald City! Not only that, but she was Mikey's pet! What were they going to do now?!

"Oh, for _cryin' out loud!_" Raph snarled, throwing his hands up in the air. "We lost the freaking cat! How do you _lose_ a freaking ginger _cat_?!"

"…um…you mean _this_ cat?"

Blinking in unison, the three turtles turned back to the fox to find that during Raph's little outburst, a ginger feline had suddenly padded from out of the bushes like nobodies' business, and had happily nestled herself onto the furry white lap of the canine, mewing cutely. The three boys heaved a relieved sigh. "That was too close," Donnie breathed. Though he found it rather interesting that Klunk was so relaxed around a dog creature; he would've thought she'd steer clear of the fox.

The fox didn't seem to mind that Klunk decided to use her as a pillow as she reached down and stroked her fur softly. "It's fine. I know this feline," she explained. "She used to belong to Glinda the Good Witch of the North…wait a second…"

Carefully, she picked up the cat and held her up to her face, looking her straight in the eyes. "Klunk," she said firmly, "can you tell me what's happened? Tell me why these turtles that look so much like the others are here. And please…tell me how I can help save my people before it's too late…"

Understanding seemed to take over the small feline, and she gave the fox the barest of nods before her eyes began to glow.

Leo, Donnie and Raph watched in a mixture of awe and confusion as both Klunk's and the foxes' eyes began to glow a florescent blue. What was Klunk doing? She was supposed to be a psychic cat, so maybe she was giving her a message? Or was she brainwashing her? What good would that do her?

Several seconds passed until the glow faded, and the fox girl blinked several times until her eyes returned to their normal, amber hue as she turned back to the turtles. Her gaze was now filled with understanding, and bafflement as she stood up with Klunk in her arms.

These turtles…they really weren't from this world. They were here to save their world from Lord Bishop with their combined powers. Powers that they had not yet discovered. But with help, they will. And once they did, the Dark Mystic would no longer be a burden, nor would he harm or take the lives of innocents like the Munchkins.

Slowly, she walked up to the three of them, and after letting the cat leap back onto Leonardo's shoulders, she suddenly bowed before them on one knee, her head lowered respectfully. The turtles gawked down at her.

"Legendary Turtles from the land of New York City," she said humbly, "I know understand. You're here to save your brothers, the one who holds the Sacred Crimson Orb, the young Michelangelo…" She then looked up at them, meeting their confused (but Raph's smug) expressions as she offered them a determined smile.

"My name is Alopex, Fox Warrior of the village of the Winter Forest. And on my honor, I will help you get to the Emerald City and save Michelangelo. And save all of the Land of Oz."

* * *

"…April? April, are you awake?"

Letting out a soft moan of protest, the young red head forced her eyes to open as a hand on her shoulder gently shook her out of her sleep. Her vision was blurry at first, but after blinking several times, she was able to make out the face of the one who had woken her up.

Casey stared at her, his brown eyes concerned yet understanding as he offered the confused girl a soft smile. It had been hours since Mikey's attempt to take his own life, and after Casey had managed to calm him down enough, he'd decided to stay with him until he fell asleep. He realized that as long as someone was there by his side, he seemed to sleep soundly. Though he still had terrible dreams that woke him up again and again with a terrible scream, as soon as he caught sight of Casey, April or his father, he immediately calmed down again. They took it in turns as usual to watch over Mikey, but this time around, instead of simply sitting by his bedside, they allowed Mikey to use their laps as a pillow and sit on his bed.

It was April's turn to sit with him, and due to how warm his body had gotten due to his sky-high fever, she too had fallen asleep, with Mikey's head burrowed into her belly and his arms locked around her middle in a strong, and slightly possessive embrace. The sight of the younger turtle hugging the older, redheaded human was a sight that made Casey smile; they were both like baby brother and big sister…

But the poor guy was still in so much pain; even now, as April and Casey gazed down at him, he was twitching and moaning in his restlessness. The strange red veins were still spreading across his body, and no matter how much research April did on whatever symptoms Mikey showed, they never matched. But then again, if this was an alien disease, then of _course _it wouldn't match with any of the regular human diseases.

Careful not to wake Mikey up, April laid a hand on his head, stroking her thumb across it. He was so hot it nearly burned her. She bit her lip hard, trying to restrain the lump that was slowly forming in her throat. Poor Mikey…why did he have to suffer this? Why did any of her family have to suffer or disappear?

The hand on her shoulder tightened, and April turned to look up at Casey, who was frowning sadly. "…April," he whispered, "it's gonna be okay."

Despite how hard she tried to hold it back, despite her vow not to crack or break again, the kindness in Casey's voice and the sincerity in his gaze undid her, and a slow trickle of hot tears streamed down her freckled cheeks. She brought up a trembling hand to wipe away the tears, but that only brought on more as she sniffled. "…C-Casey…why?" she stammered helplessly. "W-Why does this have to happen to him? To anyone? What did Mikey ever do to deserve this? Why…"

April was cut off when Casey suddenly wrapped her arms around her, holding her close to his chest as he brought up one hand to stroke her hair softly. After several seconds of sitting there, dumbfounded and tearful, she finally allowed her dam to break as she cried quietly into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist in an almost desperate embrace.

Casey held her tighter, simply letting her cry. She'd been so strong and collected for all of them so far, keeping her own emotions at bay for their sakes. Casey had never actually seen April cry, and now that she was, it angered him more than he could possibly say. Hearing her cry like this made him want to pummel whoever was responsible for her tears.

But of course, they didn't know exactly who that person was. So he was left to simply hold her, let her release her tears. He knew that it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy the need to strike out, to make the one behind all of this pay for what he'd done to Mikey, to his three friends, and to Splinter and April…

But just being here for them when they needed it, for now, was enough. Especially for Mikey and April.

"Don't worry, Red," he soothed as he held her. "He's gonna make it. The guys are gonna be back soon, and then this whole mess will get fixed." He held her back enough so that he could look down at her tear streaked face. He brought up his hand and laid it tenderly against April's cheek, using his thumb to brush away the tears. "I _swear_ it, April. Okay?"

April stared up at Casey. This was the second time in the space of two days that he had managed to wipe away their tears. She had always known that Casey was a caring person, but it was usually buried beneath that rough, confident mask he always wore.

He really was just like Raphael; hard, cocky and rude on the outside, but compassionate and warm on the inside.

Raphael…

Leonardo…

Donatello…

She cast her eyes back down at the sleeping turtle, still twitching and letting out little whimpers on her lap. The thought of her three other brothers out there, possibly in danger or captured, scared her beyond reason. What if they needed help? What if they never got back in time to save Mikey? Or worse…

What if they never made it back _alive_?

Once again, Casey brought her out of her thoughts as he cupped her other cheek with his other hand, making her look back up at him as he looked her straight in the eyes. "…you've gotta trust me, Red," he said, firmly but reassuringly.

Finally, April allowed herself to smile. Though it was only a small smile, it was a real one. She nodded her head as she lifted her hand and pressed it against the one that Casey had on her face. "…Okay, Jones. I trust you," she whispered.

Casey grinned back at her, revealing that gap in his teeth as he nodded back. That's the April he knew and loved. Now all she had to do was stay strong. And Casey would help her do just that; he would be with all of them every step of the way, down to the bitter end.

"…get a room, you two…"

Both human teens started in surprise at the sound of a weak voice, and they both looked down at April's lap to find that Mikey was awake again. Despite the veins now spreading and burning like fire to his face and down his legs, and though his features were creased with pain, his green skin growing paler and his blue eyes dulled from their once bright baby blue hue, he still managed to smile up at them.

It tore them both inside to see him like this, but at least they knew he wasn't ready to give p on them just yet. Despite the pain he felt constantly, and the endless streams of nightmares and burning veins encircling his entire body, the young turtle was still holding on, for them, for his father and for his brothers.

He believed in them. He believed he could make it, or at least hold on until his older brothers returned with a cure for whatever was killing him. Then everything would be back to normal again. Or at least as normal as a mutant ninja turtle could be.

Being careful not to hurt him more than he already was, April gathered the freckled turtle into her arms and held him as tight as she dared, letting him nuzzle his face into her chest. "You're doing great, Mikey," she soothed, rubbing his shell in circles. "Just hang a little longer, okay buddy?"

Mikey nodded silently, his throat aching too much for words.

He just hoped that wherever his brothers were, they were going to be okay.

* * *

**A/N: Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine!  
**

**Right?**


End file.
